The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains before experiencing natural erosion. The Appalachian chain is a barrier to east–west travel, as it forms a series of alternating ridgelines and valleys oriented in opposition to most highways and railroads running east–west.
Sarcopyrenia is a genus of lichenicolous (lichen-dwelling) fungi. It has 11 species. It is the only genus in Sarcopyreniaceae, a family in the order Verrucariales. Sarcopyrenia was circumscribed by Finnish lichenologist William Nylander in 1858, with Sarcopyrenia gibba assigned as the type species. Sarcopyreniaceae is one of the few families composed entirely of lichenicolous fungi.
Punctelia is a genus of foliose lichens belonging to the large family Parmeliaceae. The genus, which contains about 50 species, was segregated from genus Parmelia in 1982. Characteristics that define Punctelia include the presence of hook-like to thread-like conidia, simple rhizines, and point-like pseudocyphellae. It is this last feature that is alluded to in the vernacular names speckled shield lichens or speckleback lichens.
Lepraria is a genus of leprose crustose lichens that grows on its substrate like patches of granular, caked up, mealy dust grains. Members of the genus are commonly called dust lichens. The main vegetative body (thallus) is made of patches of soredia. There are no known mechanisms for sexual reproduction, yet members of the genus continue to speciate. Some species can form marginal lobes and appear squamulose. Because of the morphological simplicity of the thallus and the absence of sexual structures, the composition of lichen products are important characters to distinguish between similar species in Lepraria.
Leprocaulon is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Leprocaulaceae. Members of the genus Leprocaulon are commonly called mealy lichens.
Rinodina brauniana is a species of lichen in the family Physciaceae. It was described as new to science in 2019 and grows in North America in the Southern Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. It lives on the bark of deciduous trees, shrubs, and conifers. It was named in honor of Emma Lucy Braun.
Lecanora markjohnstonii is a species of crustose lichen in the family Lecanoraceae. Found in the southern Appalachian Mountain region of the United States, it was described as a new species in 2018 by Carly Anderson Stewart, Erin Tripp, and James Lendemer. The type specimen was collected from Little River Canyon National Preserve (Alabama), where it was found growing on sandstone on a steep slope at an elevation of 1,123 m (3,684 ft). The specific epithet honors Mark Johnston, an Episcopalian priest known for his contributions to environmental education and outreach in Alabama.
Japewiella dollypartoniana is a species of crustose lichen in the family Lecanoraceae. It is widely distributed in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America, and has also been reported from Ontario, Canada. The lichen grows on tree branches and sapling and shrub stems at middle to high elevations.
Lepraria harrisiana is a species of leprose lichen in the family Stereocaulaceae. It is widespread in the eastern United States where it occurs in humid habitats, such as conifer swamps and riparian forests.
Rockefellera is a fungal genus in the family Pannariaceae. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single species Rockefellera crossophylla. The genus was circumscribed by James Lendemer and Erin Tripp in 2017. The generic name honors the Rockefeller family, "for their century-long support of North American conservation efforts, particularly with respect to national parks."
Ochrolechia africana, commonly known as the frosty saucer lichen, is a species of crustose and corticolous (bark-dwelling) lichen in the family Ochrolechiaceae. It is a widely distributed species, found in tropical and subtropical areas of southern Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, and South America. The lichen is characterized by the presence of a white "frosty" or powdery apothecia.
Heteroplacidium zamenhofianum is a species of lichenicolous (lichen-eating) lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. As a juvenile, it is parasitic on some members of the lichen genus Staurothele, but later becomes independent and develops a brown, crustose thallus. Characteristic features of the lichen include its dark brown, somewhat squamulous thallus and relatively small ascospores. It is widely distributed in Europe and North America.
Placidium arboreum, commonly known as the tree stipplescale, is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), squamulose (scaley) lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. It has a primarily North American distribution, with a range extending from eastern Canada south to Mexico, although it has also been reported from the West Indies and from Argentina.
Crocodia is a genus of foliose lichens in the family Peltigeraceae. It has eight species. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, although most species occur in temperate and tropical regions of the Southern Hemisphere. The main characteristics of the genus that separate it from its parent genus, Pseudocyphellaria, include a yellow medulla and yellow pseudocyphellae on the lower thallus surface.
Abrothallus secedens is a species of lichenicolous fungus in the family Abrothallaceae. Found in Africa, South America, and the United States, it was formally described as a new species in 1994 by Swedish lichenologists Mats Wedin and Rolf Santesson. The type specimen was collected by the first author on the Martial Glacier in Ushuaia at an altitude of 550 m (1,800 ft), where it was found on the thallus of the foliose lichen Pseudocyphellaria dubia, which itself was growing on the base of a Nothofagus antarctica tree. It has also been collected in Chile, Kenya, and Alaska. The species epithet of the fungus, secedens refers to the two-celled ascospores that eventually separate into single-celled part spores. Known hosts for Abrothallus secedens include Crocodia aurata, Pseudocyphellaria dubia, P. mallota, P. obvoluta, and other Pseudocyphellaria lichens not identified to species.
Capronia suijae is a species of lichenicolous fungus in the family Herpotrichiellaceae. Found in Belarus, it was formally described as a new species in 2017 by Andrei Tsurykau and Javier Etayo. The type specimen was collected from Ostrozhanka Village where it was found growing on the thallus of the bark-dwelling, crustose lichen Xanthoria parietina; Muellerella lichenicola was also simultaneously parasitizing the lichen. Capronia suijae is only known to occur at the type locality. The species epithet suijae honours Estonian lichenologist Ave Suija, "in recognition of her important contribution to the knowledge of lichenicolous fungi".
Leprocaulon beechingii is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), leprose lichen in the family Leprocaulaceae. Found in the southern Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America, it was formally described as a new species in 2020 by lichenologist James Lendemer. Its main distinguishing physical characteristic is the placodioid thallus of the normandinoides-type, with raised, crisp margins. Chemically, it contains the secondary chemical products zeorin and usnic acid. The latter of these substances gives the thallus a greenish-yellow colouration.
Lecidea tessellata is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Lecideaceae. It was formally described as a species in 1819 by German botanist Heinrich Flörke. In northern North America, it is common and widely distributed, growing on non-calcareous rocks. It also occurs in Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Europe, and Russian Asia. In India, it has been recorded only from the alpine Western Himalayas at an altitude of 3,450 m (11,320 ft). Its southern distribution extends to James Ross Island, where it is locally common.
Phlyctis monosperma is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Phlyctidaceae. It is characterised by its greyish-white, loose, granular thallus, single-spored asci, and distinctive chemical substances. The lichen is found in the subtropical evergreen forests of the Eastern Himalayas and Western Ghats of India, where it grows on rough tree bark in close association with plant-dwelling bryophytes at elevations above 2,000 m (6,600 ft). It also occurs in Sri Lanka.
Piccolia nannaria is a species of crustose lichen in the class Lecanoromycetes. It is widespread but uncommon in the coastal plain of southeastern North America. Initially thought to be corticolous (bark-dwelling), later collection of the lichen suggest that it may be lichenicolous (lichen-dwelling).
