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Sarcogyne similis H. Magn.
Low-rim Grain-spore
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: Rock outcrops, rocky woodlands
Thallus invisible, endolithic; black to dark reddish apothecia up to about 1-3 mm across, often round at maturity, margin low, thin & sometimes disappearing at maturity; MICROSCOPY: exciple not carbonized, dark brown at outer margins & yellowish within, spores many per ascus, colorless, 1-celled, rod-shaped to narrowly ellipsoid; FIELD ID: dissection needed to examine disk characteristics; see Similar Species
Other Sarcogyne species on granitic rocks or sandstone have black, carbonized exciples: S. hypophaea has small disks up to 0.7 mm in diameter, a pale hypothecium, & is broadly attached to substrate below; S. clavus has disks narrowly attached, a dark brown hypothecium, & disks 2+ mm wide at maturity; 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
Sarcogyne hypophaea
Rock outcrops, rocky woodlands, on silicious rock
Saxicolous crustose (endolithic) lichenized fungus, photobiont a green alga in Dictyochloropsis or Myrmecia
None
Mostly north of Fall Line; disjunct in Coastal Plain (Altamaha Formation sandstone)
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 Unpublished manuscript, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY.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