24. Licea testudinacea Nann. -Bremek. Acta Bot. Neerl. 14: 141 (1965) Figs. 20A–K

Sporophores sporocarpic, grouped or scattered, sessile. Sporocarps suglobose, 0.1 mm diam., to pulvinate, angular, 0.15 mm high, 0.2–0.8 mm long, dark brown to black, with undulating glossy lighter ridges marking places of dehiscence (Fig. 19 E). Peridium double, the outer layer closely appressed and covered with granular refuse material (Fig. 19 F), the inner layer inner surface shiny, minutely warted, brownish yellow/orange by TL,; dehiscence along ridges into many small platelets with a band of interlacing outgrowths on platelet margins (Fig. 19 F). Spores very dark brown in mass, grey by TL, with a conspicuous paler area, globose, (10–)12–13(–15) µm diam., warted. By SEM the inner peridial surface is densely and minutely warted, with different sized warts (Fig. 19 I), the outer layer is covered with granular material; the platelet margins ornamented with a row of prominent different sized outgrowths and pegs, some interlacing (Figs. 19 H – I); the epispore is covered by flattened verrucae.

Material examined: Holotypus. NETHERLANDS. Doorwerth, 10-October-1959, NENB 3472 (BR 5020053457106)! .

Habitat: on bark of living and dead trees, dead trunks of angiosperms and gymnosperms.

Distribution: Norway, Sweden, Lithuania, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Portugal, India, Japan, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Brazil, Australia, New Caledonia.

Icon.: Nannenga-Bremekamp (1965: 141, Figs. 8 A – B; 1975: 68; 1991: 46), Neubert et al. (1993: 283, Figs. VI: 7–8), Novozhilov et al. (1999: 85, Figs. 4 E – H), Yamamoto (2006: 39, Figs. 17 A – C; 2021: 150, Figs. A – C), Johannesen & Vetlesen (2020: 81, Figs. 41 C – E), Barbosa & Cavalcanti (2020: 422, Figs. 3 A – J).

Notes. This species has dark sporocarps with lighter dehiscence lines, small numerous platelets and dark warted spores with a pale area. It was described with a single peridium and by light microscope it appears single because the two layers are tightly appressed. The author indicates in her later keys (Nannenga-Bremekamp 2022) that the peridium is in fact double, and this can be seen in Fig. 19H herein. This combination of characters separates it from similar species like L. pygmaea (Meyl.) Ing, L. castanea G. Lister and L. chelonoides Nann. -Bremek.