The species may be considered a lichenicolous lichen which parasitises various crustose lichens when young. It is one of the few Carbonea species that form quite a conspicuous autonomous thallus which is glossy, light brown and composed of verrucose areoles. Apothecia are tiny, glossy and dark with thick margin. Microscopically, it is characterized by a thick blue-green epihymenium, dark exciple and pale hypothecium (Hertel 1970).
It grows on exposed neutral to basic siliceous rocks. Most of its European records come from regions with mild suboceanic climate, e.g., SW Scandinavia and some central European mountain ranges (Hertel 1970). A great part of material earlier identified as C. assimilis from the highest elevations of the Alps actually refers to C. tephromelae (Hafellner 2021), which is very similar and strictly specialized, only recently described from north Sweden (Svensson & Westberg 2021). It might be expected to occur in the Krkonoše Mts at places with rich populations of Tephromela atra, which it associates with. In the Czech Republic, there are only two historical collections of C. assimilis by J. Suza, specifically from the Beskydy Mts (Čertův Mlýn) and from Prameny in the Slavkovský les (Slavkov Forest) highlands. They were discovered in the herbarium of J. Suza by J. Nádvorník (Nádvorník 1961). Recently, it has been found in the Křivoklát region (Týřov) and the České středohoří hills (Milá). It is probably partly overlooked.
Literature: Nádvorník J. (1961): Příspěvky k lišejníkovému rodu Lecidea (Ach.) Th.Fr. v ČSSR. – Preslia 33: 308–314. Hertel H. (1970): Parasitische lichenisierte Arten der Sammelgattung Lecidea in Europa. – Herzogia 1: 405–437. Hafellner J. (2021): Carbonea tephromelae in the European Alps and selected distributional data for other Carbonea species. – Fritschiana (Graz) 97: 19–34. Svensson M. & Westberg M. (2021): A new lichenicolous species of Carbonea (Ascomycota, Lecanoraceae) from northern Sweden. – Phytotaxa 522: 221–230.
taxonomic classification:Ascomycota → Lecanoromycetes → Lecanorales → Lecanoraceae → Carbonea
Red List (Liška & Palice 2010):DD – data deficient
Red List (Malíček 2023):C1 – critically endangered
Occurrence in the Czech Republic
All records: 6, confirmed 6. One click on a selected square displays particular record(s), including their source(s).