Brown Cobblestone Lichen
Acarospora fuscata
Description 2
Thallus: areolate, indeterminate, overall up to 10 cm wide; areoles: angular or irregular, 0.3-1.5(-3) mm in diam., usually less than c. 0 6 mm thick, generally contiguous, often imbricate, usually in large patches, rarely lobed (Sonoran area) or lobed; rim: down-turned, usually black; upper surface: pale or dark yellowish brown, dull, usually flat to slightly convex, sometimes heavily fissured, epruinose; upper cortex: paraplectenchymatous to anticlinally prosoplectenchymatous; cells: angular or subglobular, (2-)3-4 µm wide, in ±vertical rows, 20-33 µm thick; syncortex: c. 10 µm thick; eucortex: dark pigmented layer above and 10-17 µm thick, hyaline below and 10-17 µm thick; lower cortices: continuous with upper cortex; c. 20 µm thick; algal layer: even; medulla: white, intricately prosoplectenchymatous; lower surface: black; attachment: broad, with rhizohyphae up to 5 µm in diam., without a stipe; Apothecia: usually one per areole, punctiform to filling whole areole; disc: reddish brown, rough; parathecium: c. 20 µm thick, usually expanding to c. 50 µm at top of fully dilated disc; epihymenium: dark brown, c. 10 µm thick; hymenium: hyaline, 70-80(-110) µm tall; paraphyses: 1.8- 2 µm wide at base, spreading in water, with apices up to 3(-4) µm wide and sometimes with pigment hoods; subhymenium: pale yellow or hyaline, 10-40 µm thick; hypothecium: c. 20 µm thick; asci: clavate, 60-80 x 10-17µm, 100+-spored; ascospores: hyaline, simple, broadly to narrowly ellipsoid, 4-5(-7) x 1-1.5(-2.1) µm; Pycnidia: not observed; Spot tests: UV-, KC+, C+ red cortex (best seen under microscope!); Secondary metabolites: gyrophoric acid.; Substrate and ecology: on acidic rocks, low to high elevations; World distribution: North America and Europe; Sonoran distribution: southern California and Arizona.; Notes: Acarospora fuscata is uncommon in Sonoran area, where it usually occurs in inland areas at mid-elevations on north slopes or along shaded watersheds. Many C+ red species are erroneously identified as A. fuscata, as most reports of A. fuscata from the southwestern US actually proved to be other species. Acarospora fuscata has an areolate thallus, and other species usually form verrucae or squamules. Specimens growing on uneven surfaces are sometimes incorrectly determined as A. thamnina, but these specimens do not have a well-developed stipe or rough black discs, and they are not glossy. Lobed areoles are seen in some eastern North American specimens, but such specimens are generally absent in the Sonoran area.
Fuentes y créditos
- (c) licensed media from BioImages DwCA without owner, algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.bioimages.org.uk/html/../image.php?id=31441
- (c) Lichen Unlimited: Arizona State University, Tempe., algunos derechos reservados (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/10549112
