Synonyms: Litholepis mediterranea Foslie (1905) p. 6; Melobesia mediterranea Foslie (1906) p. 17; Fosliella mediterranea Feldmann (1939) p. 269.

VEGETATIVE FEATURES

Thallus habit: encrusting, without excrescences. Margin less calcified than the rest of the thallus, sometimes translucent therfore may be confused with the substratum; rarely with orbital ridges; widely lobed edge (resembling a thin white line). Size: 1.2-1.5cm diameter, thickness 0.06mm due to different overlapping thalli. Colour of living specimen: dull red-lilac, white rimmed. Colour of dried specimen: more or less light red- lilac. 

Unistratose thallus, sometimes different overlapping thalli (multilayered only around conceptacles). Basal filaments: cells of very irregular shape, rounded, squarish or rectangular: (3) 12-14 (30)µm long x 5-12µm in diameter. Epithallial cells: single, domed. Cell connections: secondary pit-connections. 

Gametangial conceptacles: hemispherical-conical; spermatangial 50-70µm in diameter; carpogonial 150-200µm in diameter. Tetra/bisporangial conceptacles: uniporate, hemispherical-conical, numerous and grouped in the central part of the thallus; 120-140µm in diameter x 50-65µm high. Phenology: May (to be defined).

Habitat: rheophilous species, not present in well-lit sites (10-15% of superficial light) and in waters inclined to be oligotrophic. Bathymetric distribution: littoral and sublittoral; in superficial dark caves but also at considerable depth (75m). Geographic distribution (Babbini & Bressan 1997):

Alboran Sea (A): Morocco; Western Mediterranean Sea (African shores) (B): Algeria; Middle Western Mediterranean Sea (C): Italy; North Western Mediterranean Sea (D): Spain, France; South Eastern Mediterranean Sea (H): Italy; Middle Eastern Mediterranean Sea (L): Syria.