''Acarospora elevata'', the mountain cobblestone lichen, is a shiny dark reddish brown to dark brown

verrucose This glossary provides an overview of scientific terminology, terms used in the description of lichens, composite organisms arising from algae or cyanobacteria living symbiosis, symbiotically among Hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species. Er ...

to aereolate

crustose lichen Crustose lichens are lichens that form a crust which strongly adheres to the Substrate (biology), substrate (soil, rock, tree bark, etc.), making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichen ...

that grows up to wide on

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

in central and southern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

, and high elevations in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 3., Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bugartz, F., (eds.) 2001

/ref> It is usually only found above because it is eaten by red mites at lower elevations. In the Californias, it is mostly found at high elevations (hence ''"elevata"''), but sometimes in coastal locations where it is less glossy. It grows in full sun, mostly on hard granite, but sometimes other igneous or

carbonate rock Carbonate rocks are a class of sedimentary rocks composed primarily of carbonate minerals. The two major types are limestone, which is composed of calcite or aragonite (different crystal forms of CaCO3), and Dolomite (rock), dolomite rock (also kn ...

, from in elevation. It may start by growing on members of the genus ''

Aspicilia ''Aspicilia'' (sunken disk lichen) is a genus of mostly crustose lichen, crustose areolate lichen, areolate lichens that grow on rock. Most members have black apothecia discs that are slightly immersed in the areolas, hence the List of common na ...

'', or other such

pioneer species Pioneer species are resilient species that are the first to colonize barren environments, or to repopulate disrupted biodiverse steady-state ecosystems as part of ecological succession. Various kinds of events can create good conditions for pi ...

on hard rocks. There are typically between zero and four

apothecia An ascocarp, or ascoma (: ascomata), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. As ...

on each areola or wart, with dark red or black, rough surfaced, flat to concave discs without a dusty looking surface

pruina Pruinescence , or pruinosity, is a "frosted" or dusty-looking coating on top of a surface. It may also be called a pruina (plural: ''pruinae''), from the Latin word for hoarfrost. The adjectival form is pruinose . Entomology In insects, a "bloom" ...

. The asci are thicker at the top than at the base (

clavate This glossary of entomology describes terms used in the formal study of insect species by entomology, entomologists. A–C A synthetic chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticide, toxic to vertebr ...

). Lichen spot test are all negative, and it is UV− under

ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

light. It may be identical with type of '' Acarospora nitida''. The lower-elevation forms were originally called '' Thelocarpon albomarginatum'' and '' A. washingtonensis''. ''Acarospora'' is in the family Acarosporaceae. ''A. elevata'' was first described scientifically by lichenologist

Adolf Hugo Magnusson Adolf Hugo Magnusson (1 March 188514 July 1964) was a Swedish naturalist who specialized in lichenology. He was a school teacher in Gothenburg from 1909 to 1948, but spent his spare time on the study of lichens. Magnusson published many monograph ...

in 1929.

References

External links

* elevata Lichen species Lichens described in 1929 Fungi of North America Taxa named by Adolf Hugo Magnusson {{Lecanoromycetes-stub