Acarospora

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Acarospora
Acarospora glaucocarpa 45871.jpg
Acarospora glaucocarpa
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Acarosporales
Family: Acarosporaceae
Genus: Acarospora
A.Massal. (1852)
Type species
Acarospora schleicheri
(Ach.) A.Massal. (1852)
Synonyms [1]

Acarospora is a genus of mostly lichen-forming fungi in the family Acarosporaceae. Most species in the genus are crustose lichens that grow on rocks in open and arid places all over the world. [2] They may look like a cobblestone road or cracked up old paint, and are commonly called cobblestone lichens or cracked lichens. [3] : 216  [4] They usually grow on rock (are "saxicolous"), but some grow on soil (terricolous) or on other lichens. [2] [3] : 216  Some species in the genus are fungi that live as parasites on other lichens (lichenicolous fungi). [2] Acarospora is a widely distributed genus, with about 128 species according to a 2008 estimate. [5]

Species in Acarospora may be shiny as if covered with a glossy varnish, or dull and powdery looking. They have a diverse range of colors, from the brilliant yellow bright cobblestone lichen, to the dark reddish-brown mountain cobblestone lichen, or they can appear tan, gray, or white, from a dusty-looking coating (pruina). [3] : 216  They may grow in crustose forms like a warty surface (verrucose), like cracking-up old crust of paint (rimose), like a bunch of "islands" in a dry lake bed (areolate), like the flakes of cracking up paint are peeling up at the edges (sub-squamulous), or like the flakes are growing over others like scales (squamulous).

Description

They may grow as a warty crust ( verrucose , a cracked crust rimose , or with the cracks separating island-like sections like in a dried lake ( areolate – with the "islands" being called areoles ). [2] The areolas may lift up at the edges (sub-squamulose), and these edges may overlap other areolas like scales ( squamulose , with the areoles being called squamules ). [2] The areoles may grow in lobes radiating from a center ( placodioid . They may grow in irregular or indeterminate forms, sometimes with the areoles disconnected from each other and dispersed among other lichens. [2] Sometimes the squamules may be elevated with expansion of the mycelial base above the substrate ("gomphate"), or aside on "stems" called stipes, which are usually about usually half the diameter of areole. [2] The outer rim of the areola is usually down-turned. [2]

They may be shiny or dull, and in many shades from pale to blackish brown. [2] They may be smooth or rough ( rugulose ). [2] They may be different colors from brilliant yellow (from rhizocarpic acid) to brown to white. [2] They may or may not be covered with a powdery-looking surface ( pruinose ), which when present, may make them appear lighter in color, to almost white. [2]

Internal structure

Like other crustose lichens, their cross-section is generally divided into three layers, the cortex, photobiont layer , and medulla, and generally without a lower cortex as in foliose lichens. [2] The cortex itself is usually differentiated, with three layers including a syncortex, epinecral layer , and eucortex, which is where the pigment is located in the upper parts. [2] Photobionts of Acarospora are green algae in the genus Trebouxia . [6]

Fruiting structures

Each wart, areole , or squamule may have 0 to many apothecia. [2] The apothecia are usually immersed in the thallus. [2] Sometimes the apothecia are raised on a wart and surrounded by a margin of thallus-like tissue, sometimes with the margin being a true exciple . [2] The apothecia are usually immersed , and round to very irregular in shape. [3] : 216  The apothecial disc is round to squished and irregular, and ranges in colors: black, brown, red, or yellow, or in-between. The disc may be smooth or it may be rough. The asci range from being narrow to being club-shaped (clavate). Spores are colorless, spherical to ellipsoid, and range from tens to hundreds per ascus. [3] : 216 

Taxonomy

The genus was published by the Italian lichenologist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in 1852, with the type species Acarospora schleicheri (originally described as Urceolaria schleicheri by Erik Acharius in 1810). Other species included by Massalongo in his original conception of the genus were A. chlorophana (now Pleopsidium chlorophanum ), A. oxytona , A. cervina , A. smeragdula, and A. veronensis . [7]

Species

Yellow members of the genus may resemble members of Pleopsidium . [3] : 216  Non-yellow members may resemble members of Aspicilia . [3] : 216 

Species include: [8] [9]

Chemistry

Acarospora species often lack secondary metabolites (lichen products). Each wart, areola, or squamule may each have zero to many apothecia. [2] Some have norstictic acid, gyrophoric acid, or fatty acids. Yellow species have rhizocarpic acid, a pigment that makes them yellow.

Range and habitat

They grow all over the world, but usually in open arid habitats. [2] They can grow on acidic rock and basic rock, or on soil. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Aspicilia</i> Genus of lichens in the family Aspiciliaceae

Aspicilia is a genus of mostly crustose areolate lichens that grow on rock. Most members have black apothecia discs that are slightly immersed in the areolas, hence the common name"Given the same reason, the naming of Aspicilia is derived from the Greek word for "shield concave".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acarosporaceae</span> Family of fungi

The Acarosporaceae are a family of fungi in the order Acarosporales. Members of this family have a widespread distribution, and are mostly lichenized with green algae. According to a 2021 estimate, the family contains 11 genera and about 260 species. The family is characterised by a hamathecium formed of paraphysoids.

<i>Lecanora</i> Genus of lichen-forming fungi

Lecanora is a genus of lichen commonly called rim lichens. Lichens in the genus Squamarina are also called rim lichens. Members of the genus have roughly circular fruiting discs (apothecia) with rims that have photosynthetic tissue similar to that of the nonfruiting part of the lichen body (thallus). Other lichens with apothecia having margins made of thallus-like tissue are called lecanorine.

<i>Toninia</i> Genus of lichens

Toninia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Ramalinaceae.

<i>Sarcogyne</i> Genus of lichens

Sarcogyne is a genus of crustose lichens in the family Acarosporaceae. It was circumscribed by German botanist Julius von Flotow in 1850. A proposal has been put forth in 2021 to assign Sarcogyne clavus as the type species of the genus, "as it represents the original concept of Sarcogyne as having melanized lecideine apothecia without algae in the margin".

<i>Stigmidium</i> Genus of fungi

Stigmidium is a genus of lichenicolous (lichen-eating) fungi in the family Mycosphaerellaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Italian botanist Vittore Benedetto Antonio Trevisan de Saint-Léon in 1860, with Stigmidium schaereri assigned as the type species.

<i>Heteroplacidium</i> Genus of lichens

Heteroplacidium is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Verrucariaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Austrian lichenologist Othmar Breuss in 1996 with Heteroplacidium imbricatum assigned as the type species. It was proposed as a segregate of Catapyrenium. Other morphologically similar genera are Neocatapyrenium, Placidium, and Scleropyrenium, although molecular phylogenetic analyses indicate that they are independent monophyletic lineages within the Verrucariaceae.

<i>Peltula</i> Genus of lichens

Peltula is a genus of small dark brown to olive or dark gray squamulose lichens that can be saxicolous ) or terricolous. Members of the genus are commonly called rock-olive lichens. They are cyanolichens, with the cyanobacterium photobiont from the genus Anacystis. They are umbilicate with flat to erect squamule lobes that attach from a central holdfast or cluster of rhizenes. Lichen spot tests are usually negative.

<i>Acarospora socialis</i> Species of lichen

Acarospora socialis is a usually bright yellow areolate to squamulose crustose lichen in the family Acarosporaceae that grows up to 10 cm wide, mostly on rock in western North America. It is among the most common lichens in the deserts of Arizona and southern California. It grows on sandstone, intrusive and extrusive igneous rock such as granitics, in all kinds of exposures to sunlight, including vertical rock walls. It is found in North America, including areas of the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert region, to Baja California Sur. It is the most common yellow member of its genus in southwestern North America. It sometimes, but rarely, grows on other soil crusts. It is a pioneer species.

Caloplaca durietzii, or Durietz's orange lichen, a smooth surfaced yellowish orange crustose areolate lichen with elongated lobes that grows on wood or bark in southwestern North America. It is commonly seen growing on old junipers in Joshua Tree National Monument in the Mojave Desert. It is in the Caloplaca fungus genus of the Teloschistaceae family.

<i>Acarospora fuscata</i> Species of fungus

Acarospora fuscata is a glossy pale or yellowish-brown areolate lichen with angular areolas that grows up to 10 cm (4 in) wide on non-calcareous rock in low and high elevations. It grows in Europe and North America. It grows in southern California and on the eastern part of the Sierra Nevada range. It may grow with the areolas disconnected. The areolas may lift at the edges, but the areolas do not overlap like true squamules (sub-squamulose). More common in the Sierras is the similar species Acarospora thamnina, which is truly squamulose with overlapping scales.

<i>Acarospora schleicheri</i> Species of fungus

Acarospora schleicheri, the soil paint lichen, is a bleached to bright yellow areolate to squamulose lichen that commonly grows to 10 cm (4 in) on soil (terricolous) in arid habitats of southern California and Baja California, also in Europe and Africa. It produces rhizocarpic acid as a secondary metabolite, which gives it a yellow coloration and serves to protect it from the sun. Its lower surface is also yellow. It can be greenish when moist. Roundish, angular, or irregularly shaped squamules are 0.5–4 mm in diameter. There are 0–1 apothecia embedded in the thallus, with 0.4–1.2 mm roundish black to reddish-brown, or dark brown discs, which sometimes fill the areola so as to be lecanorine. It divides vegetatively on the soil. Asci are club shaped (clavate) and have 100 or more spherical to ellipsoid spores. Lichen spot tests are negative, and it is UV+ orange under ultraviolet light.

<i>Blastenia</i> Genus of lichens

Blastenia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. The genus was circumscribed in 1852 by Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo.

<i>Xanthocarpia</i> Genus of lichen

Xanthocarpia is a genus of mostly crustose lichens in the family Teloschistaceae. It has 12 species with a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution.

Silobia rufescens is a lichenized fungus, with a dark gray or brown crust-like appearance. It is widespread, and grows on siliceous rock. S. rufescens is in the genus Silobia, which is segregated from the genus Acarospora due to its budding apothecia with only lateral exciple.

<i>Kuettlingeria</i> Genus of lichens

Kuettlingeria is a genus of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichens in the family Teloschistaceae. Species are characterized by a white or gray thallus and the presence of anthraquinones in the apothecial disc and true exciple, with the exception of Kuettlingeria diphyodes, which entirely lacks anthraquinones. First described by Italian botanist Trevisan in 1857, the genus includes 15 recognized species, although it is believed to be more diverse with additional unnamed species. These lichens are predominantly found in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in the Mediterranean region, and grow on limestone and base-rich siliceous outcrops in sunlit conditions.

Acarospora dissecta is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Acarosporaceae. It grows on volcanic rock in high-altitude regions of the Andes. Its distinguishing features include a crust-like formation of dispersed areoles, a unique combination of organic acids, and a distinctive fissuring pattern. This lichen thrives in the semi-desert, high Andean areas, and currently, its known distribution is limited to specific areas in Bolivia.

References

  1. ↑ "Synonymy. Current Name: Acarospora A. Massal., Ric. auton. lich. crost. (Verona): 27 (1852)". Species Fungorum . Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Acarospora, Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 3, Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bugartz, F., (eds.) 2001,
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN   978-0-300-19500-2
  4. ↑ Name Search Results for Scientific Name Acarospora, USDA
  5. ↑ Kirk PM, Cannon PF, Minter DW, Stalpers JA (2008). Dictionary of the Fungi (10th ed.). Wallingford, UK: CAB International. p. 3. ISBN   978-0-85199-826-8.
  6. ↑ Thomson, J.W. (1984). American Arctic Lichens: The Microlichens. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 19. ISBN   978-0-299-13460-0.
  7. ↑ Massalongo AB. (1852). Ricerche sull'autonomia dei licheni crostosi (in Italian). Verona: Frizerio. p. 27.
  8. ↑ Esslinger, T.L. "A Cumulative Checklist for the Lichen-Forming, Lichenicolous and Allied Fungi of the Continental United States and Canada, Version 22". Opuscula Philolichenum. 17: 6–268. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  9. ↑ "Search: Acarospora". Species Fungorum. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  10. ↑ Aptroot, A. (2002). "New and interesting lichens and lichenicolous fungi in Brazil" (PDF). Fungal Diversity. 9 (1): 15–45.
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