Acarospora

{{Short description|Genus of fungi}} {{Italic title}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Acarospora glaucocarpa 45871.jpg | image_caption = ''Acarospora glaucocarpa'' | taxon = Acarospora | authority = A.Massal. (1852) | type_species = ''Acarospora schleicheri '' | type_species_authority = (Ach.) A.Massal. (1852) | synonyms_ref = <ref name="Species Fungorum synonymy"/> | synonyms = *''Polysporinopsis'' {{Small|Vězda (2002)}} }}

'''''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.<ref name=ALFGSDR/> They may look like a cobblestone road or cracked up old paint, and are commonly called '''cobblestone lichens''' or '''cracked lichens'''.<ref name=SSFGCL>Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, {{ISBN|978-0-300-19500-2}}</ref>{{rp|216}}<ref>[https://plants.usda.gov/java/nameSearch Name Search Results for Scientific Name Acarospora, USDA]</ref> They usually grow on rock (are "saxicolous"), but some grow on soil (terricolous) or on other lichens.<ref name=ALFGSDR/><ref name=SSFGCL/>{{rp|216}} Some species in the genus are fungi that live as parasites on other lichens (lichenicolous fungi).<ref name="ALFGSDR"/> ''Acarospora'' is a widely distributed genus, with about 128 species according to a 2008 estimate.<ref name="Kirk 2008"/>

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).<ref name=SSFGCL/>{{rp|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 ({{lichengloss|verrucose}}, a cracked crust {{lichengloss|rimose}}, or with the cracks separating island-like sections like in a dried lake ({{lichengloss|areolate}} – with the "islands" being called {{lichengloss|areoles}}).<ref name=ALFGSDR>Acarospora, Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 3, Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bugartz, F., (eds.) 2001, [http://lichenportal.org/portal/taxa/index.php?taxon=51910]</ref> The areolas may lift up at the edges (sub-squamulose), and these edges may overlap other areolas like scales ({{lichengloss|squamulose}}, with the areoles being called {{lichengloss|squamules}}).<ref name=ALFGSDR/> The areoles may grow in lobes radiating from a center ({{lichengloss|placodioid}}. They may grow in irregular or indeterminate forms, sometimes with the areoles disconnected from each other and dispersed among other lichens.<ref name=ALFGSDR/> 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.<ref name=ALFGSDR/> The outer rim of the areola is usually down-turned.<ref name=ALFGSDR/>

They may be shiny or dull, and in many shades from pale to blackish brown.<ref name=ALFGSDR/> They may be smooth or rough ({{lichengloss|rugulose}}).<ref name=ALFGSDR/> They may be different colors from brilliant yellow (from rhizocarpic acid) to brown to white.<ref name=ALFGSDR/> They may or may not be covered with a powdery-looking surface ({{lichengloss|pruinose}}), which when present, may make them appear lighter in color, to almost white.<ref name=ALFGSDR/>

===Internal structure=== Like other crustose lichens, their cross-section is generally divided into three layers, the cortex, {{lichengloss|photobiont layer}}, and medulla, and generally without a lower cortex as in foliose lichens.<ref name=ALFGSDR/> The cortex itself is usually differentiated, with three layers including a syncortex, {{lichengloss|epinecral layer}}, and eucortex, which is where the pigment is located in the upper parts.<ref name=ALFGSDR/> Photobionts of ''Acarospora'' are green algae in the genus ''Trebouxia''.<ref name="Thomson 1984"/>

===Fruiting structures=== Each wart, {{lichengloss|areole}}, or {{lichengloss|squamule}} may have 0 to many apothecia.<ref name=ALFGSDR/> The apothecia are usually immersed in the thallus.<ref name=ALFGSDR/> Sometimes the apothecia are raised on a wart and surrounded by a margin of thallus-like tissue, sometimes with the margin being a {{lichengloss|true exciple}}.<ref name=ALFGSDR/> The apothecia are usually {{lichengloss|immersed}}, and round to very irregular in shape.<ref name=SSFGCL/>{{rp|216}} The apothecial {{lichengloss|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.<ref name=SSFGCL/>{{rp|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''.<ref name="Massalongo 1852"/>

==Species== Yellow members of the genus may resemble members of ''Pleopsidium''.<ref name=SSFGCL/>{{rp|216}} Non-yellow members may resemble members of ''Aspicilia''.<ref name=SSFGCL/>{{rp|216}}

Species include:<ref name=esslinger22/><ref name=sf/> {{Columns-list|colwidth=19em| *''Acarospora adscendens'' Cl. Roux & Poumarat *''Acarospora affinis'' K.Knudsen *''Acarospora americana'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora asahinae'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora badiofusca'' (Nyl.) Th.Fr. *''Acarospora bolleana'' (H. Magn.) K. Knudsen, J.N. Adams, Kocourk. & Y. Wang *''Acarospora boulderensis'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora brattiae'' K.Knudsen *''Acarospora brodoana'' K.Knudsen *''Acarospora brouardii'' B.de Lesd. *''Acarospora bullata'' H.Magn *''Acarospora calcarea'' K.Knudsen *''Acarospora canadensis'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora cervina'' A.Massal. *''Acarospora chrysops'' (Tuck.) H.Magn. *''Acarospora citrina'' (Taylor) Zahlbr. *''Acarospora clauzadeana'' (Llimona) Casares & Hafellner *''Acarospora coloradiana'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora complanata'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora conafii'' P. Jung & B. Büde *''Acarospora contigua'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora depressa'' H.Magn *''Acarospora dissecta'' K.Knudsen & Flakus *''Acarospora elevata'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora epiaspicilia'' Cl. Roux & M. Bertrand *''Acarospora epilutescens'' Zahlbr. *''Acarospora episulphurata'' Cl. Roux & S. Poumarat *''Acarospora erythrophora'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora flavisparsa'' V.J.Rico & Candan *''Acarospora fuscata'' (Schrader) Arnold *''Acarospora fuscescens'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora glaucocarpa'' (Ach.) Körber *''Acarospora heufleriana'' Körber *''Acarospora hilaris'' (Dufour) Hue *''Acarospora impressula'' Th.Fr. *''Acarospora interjecta'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora janae'' K.Knudsen *''Acarospora leavittii'' K.Knudsen & Hollinger *''Acarospora lendemeri'' K.Knudsen & Kocourk. *''Acarospora maccarthyi'' K.Knudsen & Kocourk. *''Acarospora macrospora'' (Hepp) A.Massal. ex Bagl. *''Acarospora moenium'' (Vainio) Räsänen *''Acarospora molybdina'' (Wahlenb.) Trevisan *''Acarospora nashii'' K.Knudsen *''Acarospora nevadensis'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora nicolai'' B.de Lesd. *''Acarospora nitrophila'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora nodulosa'' (Dufour) Hue *''Acarospora novomexicana'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora obnubila'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora obpallens'' (Nyl. ex Hasse) Zahlbr. *''Acarospora oligospora'' (Nyl.) Arnold *''Acarospora oligyrophorica'' {{au|Aptroot (2002)}}<ref name="Aptroot 2002"/> – Brazil *''Acarospora orcuttii'' K.Knudsen *''Acarospora oreophila'' K.Knudsen *''Acarospora organensis'' K.Knudsen, Kocourk., Hodková & Yan Wang *''Acarospora peliscypha'' Th.Fr. *''Acarospora piedmontensis'' K.Knudsen *''Acarospora poumaratii'' Cl. Roux *''Acarospora pseudofuscata'' Sipman *''Acarospora pseudosuzae'' Cl. Roux & J.-Y. Monnat *''Acarospora robiniae'' K.Knudsen *''Acarospora rosulata'' (Th.Fr.) H.Magn. *''Acarospora rouxii'' K.Knudsen, Elix & Reeb *''Acarospora rugulosa'' Körber *''Acarospora saepincola'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora schleicheri'' (Ach.) A.Massal. *''Acarospora scotica'' Hue *''Acarospora scottii'' K.Knudsen & Kocourk. *''Acarospora sinopica'' (Wahlenb.) Körber *''Acarospora socialis'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora sparsa'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora sphaerosperma'' R.C. Harris & K.Knudsen *''Acarospora stapfiana'' (Müll.Arg.) Hue *''Acarospora stictica'' K.Knudsen & Elix *''Acarospora strigata'' (Nyl.) Jatta *''Acarospora subrufula'' (Nyl.) H.Olivier *''Acarospora succedens'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora superfusca'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora thamnina'' (Tuck.) Herre *''Acarospora thelococcoides'' (Nyl.) Zahlbr. *''Acarospora toensbergii'' K.Knudsen & Kocourk. *''Acarospora tongletii'' Hue *''Acarospora tuckerae'' K. Knudsen *''Acarospora umbilicata'' Bagl. *''Acarospora veronensis'' A.Massal. *''Acarospora verruciformis'' H.Magn. *''Acarospora wetmorei'' K.Knudsen }}

==Chemistry== ''Acarospora'' species often lack secondary metabolites (lichen products). Each wart, areola, or squamule may each have zero to many apothecia.<ref name=ALFGSDR/> 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.<ref name=ALFGSDR/> They can grow on acidic rock and basic rock, or on soil.<ref name=ALFGSDR/>

==References== {{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="Aptroot 2002">{{cite journal |last=Aptroot |first=A. |year=2002 |title=New and interesting lichens and lichenicolous fungi in Brazil |journal=Fungal Diversity |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=15–45 |url=https://www.fungaldiversity.org/fdp/sfdp/9-2.pdf}}</ref>

<ref name=esslinger22>{{cite journal |last1=Esslinger |first1=T.L. |title=A Cumulative Checklist for the Lichen-Forming, Lichenicolous and Allied Fungi of the Continental United States and Canada, Version 22 |journal=Opuscula Philolichenum |volume=17 |pages=6–268 |url=https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~esslinge/chcklst/chcklst7.htm |access-date=10 January 2019 |archive-date=3 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303174649/https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~esslinge/chcklst/chcklst7.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name="Kirk 2008">{{cite book |vauthors=Kirk PM, Cannon PF, Minter DW, Stalpers JA |title=Dictionary of the Fungi |edition=10th |publisher=CAB International |location=Wallingford, UK |year=2008 |page=3 |isbn=978-0-85199-826-8}}</ref> <ref name="Massalongo 1852">{{cite book |author =Massalongo AB. |title=Ricerche sull'autonomia dei licheni crostosi |year=1852 |publisher=Frizerio |location=Verona |page=27 |language=Italian |url=https://archive.org/stream/ricerchesullaut00massgoog#page/n48/mode/2up}}</ref>

<ref name=sf>{{cite web |title=Search: ''Acarospora'' |url=http://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/names.asp |publisher=Species Fungorum |access-date=11 January 2019}}</ref>

<ref name="Thomson 1984">{{cite book |last1=Thomson |first1=J.W. |title=American Arctic Lichens: The Microlichens |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fx6KPWJ1VKsC&pg=PA19 |year=1984 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0-299-13460-0 |page=19}}</ref>

<ref name="Species Fungorum synonymy">{{cite web |title=Synonymy. Current Name: ''Acarospora'' A. Massal., Ric. auton. lich. crost. (Verona): 27 (1852) |url=http://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/SynSpecies.asp?RecordID=28 |publisher=Species Fungorum |access-date=12 October 2022}}</ref>

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Category:Acarospora Category:Lichen genera Category:Lecanoromycetes genera Category:Taxa named by Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo Category:Taxa described in 1852