The type specimen was collected in Yunnan province, China, at Bei Ma Xue Shan in Dêqên County, at an elevation of 4,200 m (13,800 ft).

The lower surface is black, except for the brown lobe tips, and features strong wrinkles and convolutions.

Hypogymnia nitida also shares similarities with H. austerodes, which also has shiny, brown, often appressed lobes and lacks perforations.

However, Hypogymnia austerodes and its close relative H. bitteri are sorediate and do not typically develop separate lobes or become somewhat pendant.

The circumboreal species H. subobscura is similar in its brown colouration but differs from H. nitida by having frequent, small perforations in the lobe tips.