Graphina pauciloculata

A small crustose lichen, which under the hand lens (x10)  resembles a depauperate G.ruiziana but with much smaller, stumpy lirellae, forming tight, gnarled 'knots' of contiguous fruits in clustered groups. Individual lirellae are sessile, with smooth unfurrowed margins (cf. young Graphis elegans) and a persistently narrow, slit-like disc. However, with the naked eye in the field its immediate form can resemble other similarly sized species with clustered fruits, such as some Arthothelium species, but the lirellae are prouder and not flush with the bark surface, as is the case in Arthothelium.