Plants of the Gila Wilderness
Presented in Association with the
Western New Mexico University Department
of Natural Sciences
Acarospora contigua H. Magn.
Golden Cobblestone Lichen
Acarospora contigua is a bright yellow crustose lichen that looks like small angular plates that have been fit together. The angular plates are called "areoles". There are no lobules on the margins of the lichen. There are abundant apothecia with brownish discs. The photobiont is unicellular and green. The asci contain dozens to hundreds of small hyaline spores. A. contigua grows on exposed, acidic rock.
Please click on an image for a larger file.
Acarospora contigua, growing on granite boulder, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Pinos Altos, March 30, 2018
Acarospora contigua, closeup, growing on granite boulder, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Pinos Altos, March 30, 2018
Acarospora contigua, macro, growing on granite boulder, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Pinos Altos, March 30, 2018
Acarospora contigua, photomicrograph of areoles with apothecia, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Pinos Altos, March 30, 2018
Acarospora contigua, photomicrograph of areoles with apothecia, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Pinos Altos, March 30, 2018
Acarospora contigua, photomicrograph of cross section of apothecium, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Pinos Altos, March 30, 2018
Acarospora contigua, photomicrograph of unicellular green photobiont, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Pinos Altos Range, Pinos Altos, March 30, 2018
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