Flora of New Zealand Series

Thallus crustose, uniform, ecorticate or nearly so, corticolous, or saxicolous, rarely foliicolous. Photobiont green, Trentepohlia or Phycopeltis. Ascocarps lirelline. Lirellae immersed to sessile, elongate or irregular, lips somewhat connivent, nearly closed, to open, especially when wet. Paraphyses branched and anastomosing above the ascus. Asci oblong to clavate or ± ellipsoid, thick walled, 8-spored. Ascospores ± clavate, ellipsoid to fusiform, straight or slightly curved, colourless, transversely septate, 2-18 locular.

Opegrapha is a cosmopolitan genus of c. 300 species included in the family Opegraphaceae. Six species are recorded from New Zealand by Hayward [ N.Z. J. Bot. 15: 578-580 (1977)], who records typification of accepted species and their synonyms.