Tricharia variratae is a species of foliicolous (leaf-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Gomphillaceae that was described as a new species in 2005. The type was collected in Malaysia on Borneo (Sabah), in Kinabalu Park at 1,800 m elevation, from leaves in May 1989. It is separated from other Tricharia species by its truly , black apothecia and its 3-septate ascospores (spores divided by three septa).
The thallus forms pale greenish to whitish-grey crusts about 5âÂÂ10 mm across, with a slightly irregular surface, and bears black, sterile 0.5âÂÂ1 mm long. Its apothecia are numerous, rounded, and small (0.2âÂÂ0.3 mm wide), remaining black even when moist. They are strongly concave to almost urn-shaped (), with the deeply submerged and a thin but strongly prominent margin. Microscopically, the is brownish-black and structureless (25âÂÂ30 üm thick), the is dark brownish-black (10âÂÂ15 üm), and the hymenium is colourless (about 50 üm). The paraphyses are richly branched and interconnected, the asci are narrowly (about 50 à12 üm), and the ascospores are slightly constricted at the septa and measure 10âÂÂ12 à3âÂÂ3.5 üm. were not observed. While most Tricharia species have paler, translucent apothecia, species with dark brown apothecia (such as Santricharia farinosa and Tricharis pseudosantessonii) differ by having somewhat to muriform (multichambered) ascospores.