Frutidella Kalb,
Type : Frutidella caesioatra (Schaer.) Kalb [=Lecidea caesioatra Schaer.]
Description : Thallus crustose, papillate, areolate. Areolae dispersed, convex, without a marginal prothallus. Medulla white. Photobiont green, trebouxioid. Ascomata apothecia, sessile, immarginate, convex, black, grey-white- or bluish-pruinose. Hamathecium of paraphyses, anastomosing, apical cells not swollen. Asci Bacidia -type (Malcolm & Galloway 1997: 186), 8-spored. Ascospores simple, colourless, non-halonate. Conidiomata pycnidia, immersed or semi-immersed. Conidia filiform.
Frutidella is a monospecific genus (Kalb 1994b)[the name referring to the subfruticose nature of the thallus and the resemblance to the genus Lecidella] in the family Ramalinaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005). It is a bipolar species from high-altitude, high-latitude habitats, and is commonly found in areas of late snow-lie (Gilbert 2000; Fryday 2001a; Galloway 2003b).
