Anzia pseudocolpota

The thallus forms a small, leaf-like (foliose) rosette up to about 6 cm across. Lobes are initially narrow (0.5–1 mm) but broaden to 1–2 mm, ending in rounded, hand-shaped tips that are dusted with a white crystalline bloom (pruina). A single white medullary layer encloses a conspicuous black central axis—a firm cord of fungal tissue that runs between the medulla and the spongy cushion. Below, the thallus carries a black, cottony spongy cushion that may break into rounded or patchy areas, especially near the lobe tips; older lobes sometimes lose the cushion in their centres, leaving the axis exposed. Short black root-like strands (rhizines) occur sparingly and usually in bundles of three to five.^[2]

Disc-shaped fruiting bodies (apothecia) are frequent on the upper surface. They have chestnut-brown discs 1–6 mm across, a yellowish epihymenium, and a colourless hymenium about 70–80 μm tall. Each bitunicate ascus contains numerous curved, colourless ascospores that average 13–15 × 2–3 μm. Chemical tests show atranorin in the cortex (K+ yellow) and divaricatic acid in the medulla (C−, KC−).^[2]

Anzia pseudocolpota inhabits cool, moist subalpine forests between about 2500 and 3700 m elevation. It grows epiphytically on the bark of conifers (Larix, Picea) and broad-leaved hosts such as Quercus and Rhododendron. The species is so far known only from south-western China, specifically Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, within the southern Hengduan Mountains region.^[2]