Rhizolecia Hertel,
Type : Rhizolecia hybrida (Zahlbr.) Hertel [=Lecidea hybrida Zahlbr.]
Description : Thallus crustose, thick, tartareous, calcicolous, I−, K−, C−, Pd. Photobiont green, trebouxioid. Ascomata apothecia, black, semi-immersed, rounded, marginate to immarginate. Exciple brown-black, strongly reduced. Hypothecium thick, brown-black. Hymenium 60–90 μm tall, I+ blue. Hamathecium of paraphyses, conglutinate, simple or occasionally branching-anastomosed. Asci 8-spored, Lecidea -type (Malcolm & Galloway 1997: 186). Ascospores simple, colourless, ellipsoidal, without a perispore.
Rhizolecia, included in the family Lecideaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005), is an endemic, monospecific genus found on limestone rocks and closely resembling a species of Rhizocarpon, especially the European taxon R. umbilicatum, but with internal anatomy and ascus reactions of the genus Lecidea, hence its generic name (Hertel 1984b: 427–428).
