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Sarcogyne clavus (DC.) Krempelh.
Big-disk Grain-spore
Federal Protection: No US federal protection
State Protection: No Georgia state protection
Global Rank: G4
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: Granitic and sandstone outcrops
Thallus invisible, endolithic; black to dark reddish apothecia large (to 2 mm across), irregular in shape at maturity, margin prominent & persisting into maturity when cracked both radially & along axis; MICROSCOPY: disk narrowly attached, as if on a short stalk less than 0.3 mm wide; exciple black, carbonized at outer margins, epihymenium brownish, hymenium colorless, hypothecium brown, spores many per ascus, colorless, 1-celled, rod-shaped to narrowly ellipsoid, about 3-6 µm long; FIELD ID: dissection to examine disk characteristics needed; see Similar Species
2 other species are on granitic rocks or sandstone: Sarcogyne similis has an uncarbonized exciple (dark brown, cellular), with low, uncracked disk margins that are thin & sometimes overgrown by disk with age; S. hypophaea can also have cracked rims at maturity, but has disks more broadly attached & less than 1 mm wide at maturity, & a colorless hypothecium; all these species rarely occur on calcareous rock in other areas, in which case the calcareous-rock specialist S. regularis can be told by its mostly pruinose disks; superficially similar to Porpidia subsimplex, an endolithic crust which also has irregular disks & radially cracked margins, but it usually has at least some pale, thin thallus on the surface of the rock, & its spores are large, simple, 8/ascus; Acarospora privigna is also entirely endolithic with cracked disk margins, but its disks have rough inclusions of carbonized material making them appear lumpy & rough
Sarcogyne hypophaea
Granitic & sandstone outcrops, on silicious rock
Saxicolous crustose (endolithic) lichenized fungus, photobiont a green alga in Dictyochloropsis or Myrmecia
None
Widely scattered north of the Fall Line
Unknown
Uncommon to fairly common
None
Brodo, I. M. 2001. Lichens of North America. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.
Brodo, I. M. 2016. Keys to lichens of North America: revised and expanded. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.
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.
Harris, R. C. & D. Ladd. 2005. Preliminary draft: Ozark lichens. Unpublished manuscript, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY.
Malcolm Hodges
30 July 2022
