Niebla dilatata is a fruticose lichen that grows on rocks on Guadalupe Island and the foggy coast of the Baja California peninsula.

[1] Niebla dilatata is recognized by the thallus divided into flattened twisted branches that broadly expand above the base, the branches thickened and wavy (undulate) along margins, often with abundant pycnidia and/or apothecia, and by the thallus containing the lichen substance divaricatic acid.

[1] Niebla dilatata was recognized as a result of undertaking a taxonomic revision of the genus in regard to developing a lichen flora of Baja California.

It was indicated to be endemic to Guadalupe Island on the basis of the yellow color and flattened branch morphology of the type, a pressed specimen that makes it difficult to assess its original three dimensional twisted form.

Later it was discovered that collections identified as N. caespitosa from near Puerta Catarina and from Puna Cono also belonged to this species.