Sarcogyne saphyniana

The thallus is crustose and forms small, discrete units that are squamulose to areolate (scale-like to cracked into angular patches). Individual areoles or squamules are round to angular and may overlap slightly; they measure about 0.3–2.1 mm across and are roughly 400–800 μm thick. The upper surface is usually pale brown (sometimes darker), smooth, and lacks pruina; it can be slightly shiny. The lower surface is dark and corticate, and the thallus is attached by a stipe-like base.^[2]

Apothecia (fruiting bodies) are lecideine in form (with a margin formed by the proper exciple rather than thallus tissue) and develop as emergent discs that project above the thallus as they mature. Typically 1–4 apothecia occur per thallus unit. They are 0.3–1.4 mm wide, with a reddish-brown disc that may become fissured. The margin is blackish-brown or the same colour as the disc. Microscopically, the hymenium is 66–80 μm high and stains blue with iodine (I+ blue). Ascospores are hyaline, simple, broadly ellipsoid, and measure 3.5–5.5 × 2–2.5 μm. Pycnidia were not observed, and thin-layer chromatography did not detect secondary metabolites.^[2]

Sarcogyne saphyniana is saxicolous, growing directly on rock. The type collection was made on sandstone, and additional specimens were recorded from both sandstone and shale. Known localities are in Xinjiang (northwestern China), including sites in the Tianshan Mountains and the Altai Mountains.^[2][3]

The reported elevation range spans roughly 917–2,257 m. Within China, the authors noted that several other Sarcogyne species had previously been reported, with multiple records from Xinjiang, and S. saphyniana adds to the documented diversity of the genus in that region.^[2]