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Megalospora pachycheila (Tuck.) Sipman
Glowing Volcanito
Federal Protection: No US federal protection
State Protection: No Georgia state protection
Global Rank: GNR
State Rank: SNR
Element Locations Tracked in Biotics: No
SWAP 2015 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): No
SWAP 2025 Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN): No
2025 SGCN Priority Tier: None
Element Occurrences (EOs) in Georgia: 0
Habitat Summary for element in Georgia: Mesic hardwood forests and swamps
Pale creamy-white sterile thallus with disintegrating pustules developing as lumps near edges, bursting & becoming isidiate toward center of thallus, or growing as bulbous pustule without erupting; large dark apothecia rarely seen; CHEMISTRY: thallus K-, KC-, UV+ yellow (lichexanthone); FIELD ID: other pale pustulate crusts are UV-
Rare Ochrolechia isidiata is also UV+ yellow, but is isidiate, not pustulate, & its thallus reacts KC+, C+ red; UV+ yellow species of Lepra have mounded soralia
None
Mesic hardwood forests & swamps; substrates: hardwood bark: 8 records on Magnolia, 7 on Quercus, 5 on Nyssa, 1 each on Ilex & Liquidambar; conifer bark: 2 records on Taxodium & 1 on Pinus; 2 records on unknown wood; 1 record on limestone
Corticolous crustose lichenized fungus, photobiont a green alga
None
Coastal Plain, with a few records in southern Piedmont
Unknown
Uncommon
None
Esslinger, T. L. 2021. A cumulative checklist for the lichen-forming, lichenicolous and allied fungi of the continental United States and Canada. Version 24. Opuscula Philolichenum 20: 100-394.
Lendemer, J. C. 2010. Preliminary keys to the typically sterile crustose lichens in North America. Prepared for the Sterile Crustose Lichen Course—Eagle Hill, Maine. The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, N.Y.
Malcolm Hodges
5 May 2022