Yellow Cobblestone Lichen

(Acarospora socialis)

Conservation Status
Yellow Cobblestone Lichen
 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

 
  NatureServe

GNR - Unranked

 
  Minnesota

not listed

 
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

The vegetative body (thallus) is up to 4 wide and somewhat variable in form (squamulose). It may be crusty (crusticose), in such close contact with the rock surface (substrate) that it appears sprayed on like paint; more or less leaf-like (foliose), with thin, flat, lobes that are free from the substrate; or cracked (areolate), broken up into pieces (areoles), appearing somewhat like cracked paint, that can be individually removed from the substrate. The areoles may be round or somewhat polygonal, and may form lobes. The upper surface of the thallus is usually bright yellow or greenish-yellow when fresh but may be bleached white with age.

The spore-producing body (apothecia) are tiny, about 1 32 (1 mm) in diameter, and have reddish-brown, concave disks.

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
     
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Substrate

 
 

Rock

 
     
 

Growth Form

 
 

Crusticose

 
     
 

Habitat

 
 

On sandstone and on granite rocks or outcrops; rarely on soil

 
     
 

Hosts

 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

4, 7, 26, 29, 30, 77, 81.

 
  11/17/2022      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Yellow Cobblestone Lichen is very common in southwestern United States. It is the most common yellow member of its genus in the southwest, and one of the most common lichens of any kind in the deserts of Arizona and southern California. It is rare in Minnesota.

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Fungi (fungi)  
  Subkingdom Dikarya  
  Division Ascomycota (sac fungi)  
  Subdivision Pezizomycotina  
  Class Lecanoromycetes (common lichens)  
  Subclass Acarosporomycetidae  
  Order Acarosporales  
  Family Acarosporaceae  
  Genus Acarospora (cobblestone lichens)  
  Mycobiont Acarospora socialis  
  Photobiont    
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

 

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

Bright Cobblestone Lichen

Cracked Lichen

Gold Cobblestone Lichen

Yellow Cobblestone Lichen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Apothecia

An open, disk-shaped or cup-shaped, reproductive structure, with spore sacs on the upper surface, that produces spores for the fungal partner of a lichen.

 

Areole

On plants: A woolly, hairy, or cushion-like structure, unique to cacti, from which arise spines or glochids. On lichens: a small, irregular patch of thallus.

 

Crusticose

Crusty; referring to lichens in such close contact with the rock surface (substrate) that it appears sprayed on like paint.

 

Foliose

Leaf-like; referring to lichens with thin, flat, leaf-like growths divided into lobes which are free from the substrate.

 

Substrate

The surface on which a lichen grows.

 

Thallus

The vegetative body of a lichen composed of both the alga and the fungus.

 
 
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    Yellow Cobblestone Lichen   Yellow Cobblestone Lichen  

 

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Slideshows
 
  Acarospora socialis - fungi kingdom
Fungi Kingdom
 
   
 
About

Published on Jan 23, 2015

Acarospora socialis - fungi kingdom

 
  Acarospora socialis Top #10 Facts
Rishika Janaki
 
   
 
About

Published on Jan 31, 2016

 

 

slideshow

       
 
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