Description: Thallus not evident, not lichenized, developing on the resin of conifers. Apothecia long-stalked, pin-like, 0.3-1 mm high, the stalk slender, 0.04-0.12 mm thick, shiny black, often branched, in section appearing yellowish or greenish brown to brown, of more or less periclinally arranged and slightly intertwined, 3.5-13 µm wide cells, the cell walls 1.5-2 µm thick in upper part, to 8 µm thick in lower part. Capitulum black, lenticular to subglobose, 0.12-0.16 mm across; mazaedium absent. Exciple well-developed, brown, the hyphae 3-7 µm thick, with 1-1.5 µm walls; especially in the upper part of the exciple hyphae uneven and angular, but more or less parallel; in the lower parts and in upper part of stalk the hyphae are strongly intertwined, producing a mosaic of more or less cubical cells; epithecium brownish, 1-3 μm thick, of 4-5.5 µm wide hyphae forming a hyphal net that also covers the exciple and the stipe; paraphyses 50-60 x 1.6-1.8 µm, straight, usually branched twice, septate, in old ascocarps growing through the epithecium and appearing as hyaline hair-like structures on its top; hypothecium pale grey-brown. Asci 8-spored, cylindrical, formed with croziers, with a variously thickened apex penetrated by a narrow canal, persisting until the spores are mature. Ascospores 1-celled, brown, ellipsoid to subfusiform, 6.8-10.2 x 3-5.2 µm, the wall thickened at both ends, with irregular to sigmoid-shaped low ridges parallel to, or slightly angled from the long axis of spore, the ornamentation barely noticeable to rough. Photobiont absent. Spot tests: all parts of ascomata usually K-, N-. Chemistry: without lichen substances.
Note: a species described from North America and also known from Spain, growing on the resin of Abies in old, relict forests (see Tuovila & al. 2011). To be looked for in Italy, especially in the montane belt of the Apennines.
