Found in South Korea, it was formally described as a new species in 2014 by lichenologists André Aptroot and Kwang-Hee Moon.

The type specimens were collected by the first author from Mabok-san mountain (Goheung County, South Jeolla Province) at altitudes between 200 and 500 m (660 and 1,640 ft); there, the lichen was overgrowing mosses that were growing on siliceous rock.

It has a thin (less than 0.1 mm thick) mottled greyish and olive green thallus covering areas of up to about 15 cm (6 in).

The thallus lacks a cortex; rather, it comprises small, irregularly shaped areoles on a somewhat gelatinous crust.

The photobiont partner of the lichen is an myrmecioid green alga, which measures 2–4 μm in diameter.