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Acarospora elevata

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Acarospora elevata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Acarosporales
Family: Acarosporaceae
Genus: Acarospora
Species:
A. elevata
Binomial name
Acarospora elevata
H.Magn. (1929)

Acarospora elevata, the mountain cobblestone lichen, is a shiny dark reddish brown to dark brown verrucose to aereolate crustose lichen that grows up to 3 cm (1.2 in) wide on granite in central and southern California to Baja California, and high elevations in the Rocky Mountains.[1]: 216–217 [2] It is usually only found above 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) because it is eaten by red mites at lower elevations.[1]: 216–217 [2] In the Californias, it is mostly found at high elevations (hence "elevata"), but sometimes in coastal locations where it is less glossy.[2] It grows in full sun, mostly on hard granite, but sometimes other igneous or carbonate rock, from 500 to 3,350 metres (1,640 to 10,990 ft) in elevation.[2] It may start by growing on members of the genus Aspicilia, or other such pioneer species on hard rocks.[2]

There are typically between zero and four apothecia on each areola or wart, with dark red or black, rough surfaced, flat to concave discs without a dusty looking surface pruina.[2] The asci are thicker at the top than at the base (clavate).[2]

Lichen spot test are all negative, and it is UV− under ultraviolet light.[2] It may be identical with type of Acarospora nitida.[2] The lower-elevation forms were originally called Thelocarpon albomarginatum and A. washingtonensis.[2]

Acarospora is in the family Acarosporaceae. A. elevata was first described scientifically by lichenologist Adolf Hugo Magnusson in 1929.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-19500-2
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 3., Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bugartz, F., (eds.) 2001, [1]
  3. ^ Magnusson AH. (1929). "A monograph of the genus Acarospora". Kongliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlinger. 7 (4 (III)): 179.
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