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. They may look like a cobblestone road or cracked up old paint, and are commonly called cobblestone lichens or cracked lichens. They usually grow on rock, but some grow on soil (terricolous) or on other lichens. Some species in the genus are fungi that live as parasites on other lichens. Acarospora is a widely distributed genus, with about 128 species according to a 2008 estimate.
Buellia is a genus of mostly lichen-forming fungi in the family Caliciaceae. The fungi are usually part of a crustose lichen. In this case, the lichen species is given the same name as the fungus. But members may also grow as parasites on lichens (lichenicolous). The algae in the lichen is always a member of the genus Trebouxia.
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 albovariegata, the variegated orange lichen, is a gray, blue-gray, or dark green crustose areolate lichen that grows on rocks in areas of western North America such as Arizona and California. It is common in the Mojave Desert. It has no prothallus. It is in the genus Caloplaca in the family Teloschistaceae. It is similar to Caloplaca peliophylla, which has lighter brown apothecial discs and a narrower spore isthmus.
Amandinea punctata (tiny button lichen) is a crustose brown to gray lichen that grows on wood and rock around the world. It grows on, not in the wood (epiphytic). It prefers bark that is acidic. In California, it is among the most common crustose lichens occurring on trees. Sometimes its thallus is absent, and branches may be covered in its lecideine apothecia. Because of its tolerance of low humidity, it is one of the few epiphytic lichens growing on trees in California deserts, where it commonly grows on the old, dry wood of junipers, and sometimes fallen pinyon pines and oaks, or on their dead branches. Compared to other lichens, it is tolerant of air pollutants and other toxins such as NO2 and SO2.
Buellia dispersa is a dull white to beige or dark brown crustose areolate lichen that grows on non-calcareous rock, such as basalt, granite and gneiss, in arid to semi-arid areas of northern Africa, Europe, and southwestern North America. The areolas are distinct, becoming subsquamulose when separated and collecting in irregular patches, otherwise they form rosettes with lobed margins. There is no prothallus. It commonly occurs in the Mojave Desert, Channel Islands, and Santa Monica Mountains, also in the Cuyamaca Mountains, Santa Ana Mountains, and San Jacinto Mountains. It is among the most common lichen species in the Sonoran Desert.
Aspicilia phaea is a grayish brown to tan areolate crustose lichen commonly found on rock in coastal to inland parts of central and southern California. Described as new to science in 2007, it is endemic to California. It grows on exposed or partially shaded siliceous rock, with a few known occurrences on serpentine rock.
Caloplaca nigra is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. Found on rocks predominantly in the Galápagos Islands, it is characterised by its dark reproductive structures.
Jasonhuria is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. It is monotypic, containing only the species Jasonhuria bogilana. This species is a saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen that occurs in South Korea.
Placomaronea fuegiana is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Candelariaceae. Found in South America, it was formally described as a new species in 2009 by Martin Westberg and Patrik Frödén. The type specimen was collected by the second author in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, where it was found growing on sandstone. The species epithet fuegiana refers to the type locality. It also occurs in Pali-Aike National Park, where it grows in the pits of volcanic rocks.
Caloplaca aliciae is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It is found in Australia. It is characterised by a thallus that can grow up to 2 cm wide, featuring colours from dull pink to dull brown, with small, dispersed, flat areoles that are irregularly shaped and occasionally dissected by cracks, displaying a whitish, dull pink, or dull orange-brown surface. Its apothecia are lecanorine in form, initially immersed but often rising above the areoles, with each areole containing one or two apothecia that have a thalline margin matching the thallus colour.
Caloplaca conranii is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. The lichen has a bright yellow thallus about 1–2 cm wide, featuring a thick texture with convex, pustule-like formations around the edges and occasionally forming clusters in the centre. Its apothecia are quite large and heavy, ranging from 0.4 to 1.5 mm in diameter, with a flat, dull orange or brownish-orange disc, and long, narrow ascospores.
Caloplaca filsonii is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It has a crust-like thallus that is uneven and warty around the edges and more distinctly wart-like in the centre, coloured in shades of grey and brownish-grey near its reproductive structures (apothecia), but lacking a developed prothallus.
Gintarasiella is a single-species genus in the fungal family Teloschistaceae. It contains the species Gintarasiella aggregata, a saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen that is found in Australia. The lichen forms uneven, pillow-like patches up to 30 mm across, distinguished by its yellow-orange areoles that are tightly packed or spread out and soon covered by many apothecia. These fruiting bodies start as zeorine in form and later become biatorine, ranging from 0.3 to 1 mm wide and often appearing distorted due to their dense clustering.
Caloplaca nothocitrina is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. Its thallus is up to 8 mm in diameter and deep yellow in colour. It comprises small dispersed areoles, occasional concave soralia, and circular apothecia with a bright yellow margin and a dull dark yellowish or brownish disc.
Caloplaca patagoniensis is a species of lignicolous (wood-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It is found in Chile. It forms small thallus patches, with distinctive areoles that change from whitish or greyish-yellow to deep orange or brownish-orange, often covered by a bright orange blastidious mass. Its fruiting bodies (apothecia) are dark reddish-orange and initially immersed in the substrate, while its spores are ellipsoid to elongated, and the species contains parietin, turning purple when exposed to a potassium hydroxide solution.
Caloplaca nothoholocarpa is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It is found in Chile.
Caloplaca sol is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It is found on limestone and basic siliceous rocks along the southern and western shores of Great Britain.
Filsoniana ferdinandmuelleri is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It is found in Australia. The lichen has a squamulose (scaly) thallus, with a range of bright yellow to greenish-yellow and brownish-orange colours in its soredia and apothecia, respectively. The areoles of this lichen are varied in size, slightly raised from the thallus surface, and each carries one to four apothecia. The soralia are rounded or irregularly shaped, covering most of the thallus surface as a yellow to greenish-yellow mass. The apothecia have dark brownish-orange discs, surrounded by slightly paler yellow margins, with the spore-bearing asci containing typically eight brownish-golden ascospores.
Hanstrassia lenae is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling) in the family Teloschistaceae. Described as a new species in 2007, the lichen is found in Russian Far East, Mongolia, and Siberia. It closely resembles Elenkiniana ehrenbergii but distinguished by the presence of soralia on its thallus. This species has a thick, effigurate thallus with weak marginal lobes and developed marginal, labriform (lip-shaped) soralia.
