Nitschkia collapsa  

Anamorph: not known.
Teleomorph: stromata absent, superficial mycelium absent or inconspicuous. Ascomata 500-600 µm and cupulate when dry; 550-650 µm diam. and 300-350 µm tall and oblate when fully hydrated, superficial, often in clusters, black, strongly verrucose, thick-walled, without spines, the ostiole inconspicuous. Peridium with an outler layer almost completely occuded by melanized material, the inner layers composed of pale brown flattened thin-walled cells with numerous Munk pores 1-1.3 µm diam. Interascal tissue absent, the ostiolar region with a pad of thin-walled hyaline cells (the so-called Quellkörper) which breaks down to form the ostiole. Asci clavate, long-stalked, the spore-containing part 37-42 x 14-16 µm, very thin-walled and often evanescent, the apex truncate with a minute apical ring sometimes visible, not blueing in iodine, 8-spored. Ascospores arranged ± biseriately, 8.5-10.6 (-11.7) x 3.8-4.6 µm, ellipsoidal, slightly contricted at the ± median septum, the apices obtuse, hyaline to very pale grey-brown, thin-walled, smooth, guttulate, without a gelatinous sheath or appendages.