[4] Felipes leucopellaeus is found across Europe and North America in temperate and boreal regions, typically in old-growth forest or wooded mires.

[6] Its thallus is whitish to pale yellow or fawn in colour, variously described as being flaky (scurfy), minutely granular (leprose) or somewhat "cobwebby" (arachnoid) in appearance.

Its apothecia (the lichen's spore-carrying structures) are dark brown to black in colour, ranging in shape from generally rounded to star-like or lobed.

In Europe, it is found on the bark of mature birch (Betula), oak (Quercus), pine (Pinus) and holly (Ilex) trees, as well as occasionally on old common heather (Calluna) stems.

[8] In North America, where it was first recorded in 1988, it has been found on the bark of Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch) and Picea rubens (red spruce).