DWM 3158.

Fruiting body a stalked sporangium, solitary or in very small groups, 0.3–0.8 mm tall. Sporotheca globose, erect, dark brown, 0.2–0.4 mm in diameter. Hypothallus very small, inconspicuous. Stalk stout, one to one and a half times as long as the diameter of the sporotheca, with intertwined fibres at the base that become parallel above and there usually opaque and black. Peridium usually completely fugacious but sometimes leaving a collar around the stalk. Columella reaching the centre of the sporotheca and there dividing into a small number of main capillitial branches. Capillitium dark purple-brown, branched two or three time, free ends rather thick but not swollen. Spores dark brown in mass, grey-brown by transmitted light, covered with fine warts, 14–16 µm in diameter. Plasmodium translucent white.

Widely distributed in Europe (Ing 1999) and also known from Asia (Yamamoto 1998) and North America (Stephenson 1989). First reported from New Zealand by Mitchell (1992), based on a specimen appearing in moist chamber culture on bark samples collected in Auckland.

Bark of living trees.

Nannenga-Bremekmap (1991), Ing (1999

The distinguishing features of this species are the relatively stout stalk and the large spores.