the description of the external morphology was based on the air - dried material observed under a dissecting microscope . the specimen used in this study was deposited in the lichen herbarium of korean lichen research institute ( kolri ) in sunchon national university , korea . specimens from natural history museum and institute , chiba ( cbm ) , japan were also examined for comparison purposes . chemical analysis was made by hplc method ( yoshimura , 1994 ) using ymc - pack ods - a column and eluent solvent of meoh : h2o : h3po4 (= 80 : 20 : 1 , v / v / v ) . thallus tightly adnate , margine lobate , center subcrustoseareolate , lobes sublinear , 0.2~1.2 mm wide . external morphology : thallus saxicolous , subcrustose , more or less lobate at the center with clearly lobed margins , 2~6 cm broad , pale yellowish green ( fig . 1a ) ; lobes subirregular , variable 0.4~1.1 mm wide , sparingly branched , flat to more or less convex , contiguous to subimbricate ( fig . 1b ) ; upper surface continuous , emaculate , shiny , moderately isidiate , the isidia subglobose to cylindrical , darkening at the tips , unbranched ( fig . apothecia initially aspicilioid but soon emergent and sessile , the disk brown , 0.5~0.8 mm in diameter ; spores 5~6  9~11 m . chemistry : medulla k+ yellow ; sticitic acid , norstictic acid and usnic acid ( fig . 2 ) habitat and ecology : scattering on the rock surface of exposed splash zone along sea coastal lines with other lichens such as xanthoria and caloplaca sp . distribution : it is the most widespread species in the genus on the world level and occurs commonly on sandstones in south africa , south west africa , brazil , uruguay , australia , hong kong , taiwan , japan and india . east asian specimens ( taiwan , japan and korea ) were mainly found along sea coast . , on seaside rock ( splash zone ) , hur 06 - 0001 ; japan , wakayama - ken , higashi - muro - gun , koza - cho , moritozaki point , 5 m alt . , on seaside rock ( supertidal zone ) , harada 16130 . ohshima island ( yashiro island ) yamaguchi - ken , ohshima - gun , touwa - cho , yun , hokibaba point , 6 m alt . remarks : this species is easily recognized by chemistry ( stictic acid ) and the presence of isidia . only two species of k. microscopica and k. saxeti are isidate , but the former has no sticitic acid ( k- ) . thallus tightly adnate , margine lobate , center subcrustoseareolate , lobes sublinear , 0.2~1.2 mm wide . upper surface continuous , emaculate , often pruinosed . lower surface with rhizoid or forming lamellae . external morphology : thallus saxicolous , subcrustose , more or less lobate at the center with clearly lobed margins , 2~6 cm broad , pale yellowish green ( fig . 1a ) ; lobes subirregular , variable 0.4~1.1 mm wide , sparingly branched , flat to more or less convex , contiguous to subimbricate ( fig . 1b ) ; upper surface continuous , emaculate , shiny , moderately isidiate , the isidia subglobose to cylindrical , darkening at the tips , unbranched ( fig . apothecia initially aspicilioid but soon emergent and sessile , the disk brown , 0.5~0.8 mm in diameter ; spores 5~6  9~11 m . chemistry : medulla k+ yellow ; sticitic acid , norstictic acid and usnic acid ( fig . 2 ) habitat and ecology : scattering on the rock surface of exposed splash zone along sea coastal lines with other lichens such as xanthoria and caloplaca sp . together distribution : it is the most widespread species in the genus on the world level and occurs commonly on sandstones in south africa , south west africa , brazil , uruguay , australia , hong kong , taiwan , japan and india . east asian specimens ( taiwan , japan and korea ) were mainly found along sea coast . , on seaside rock ( splash zone ) , hur 06 - 0001 ; japan , wakayama - ken , higashi - muro - gun , koza - cho , moritozaki point , 5 m alt . , on seaside rock ( supertidal zone ) , harada 16130 . ohshima island ( yashiro island ) yamaguchi - ken , ohshima - gun , touwa - cho , yun , hokibaba point , 6 m alt . remarks : this species is easily recognized by chemistry ( stictic acid ) and the presence of isidia . only two species of k. microscopica and k. saxeti are isidate , but the former has no sticitic acid ( k- ) .