Acarospora schleicheri, the soil paint lichen, is a bleached to bright yellow areolate to squamulose lichen that commonly grows to 10 cm on soil (terricolous) in arid habitats of southern California and Baja California, also in Europe and Africa.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014,Acarospora schleicheri, Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 3., Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bugartz, F., (eds.) 2001, [1] It produces rhizocarpic acid as a secondary metabolite, which gives it a yellow coloration and serves to protect it from the sun. Its lower surface is also yellow. It can be greenish when moist. Roundish, angular, or irregularly shaped squamules are 0.5–4 mm in diameter. There are 0–1 (sometimes 2–3) apothecia embedded in the thallus, with 0.4–1.2 mm roundish black to reddish-brown, or dark brown discs, which sometimes fill the areola so as to be lecanorine. It divides vegetatively on the soil. Asci are club shaped (clavate) and have 100 or more spherical to ellipsoid spores. Lichen spot tests are negative, and it is UV+ orange under ultraviolet light.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Acarospora schleicheri has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens10
Marker genes1
GenBank sequences10
eDNA detections11
Countries2
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★ITS10
fungal barcode
07Deep time~50.2 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin50.2 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type1 163 records
Wild obs. + sensor175
Museum / vouchered988
Origin
Native3
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO3 312 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy88% within 1 km
≤100 m 92≤1 km 13≤10 km 9>10 km 6
120 georeferenced · 55 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor175
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy39% within 1 km
≤100 m 17≤1 km 93≤10 km 133>10 km 39
282 georeferenced · 706 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence988
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions41 of 68 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
ASUlocation not on record
223
DOI/NPS, Colonial National Historical Parklocation not on record
90
St. Paul, US
77
Boise, US
57
Madison, US
56
LDlocation not on record
55
Chicago, US
53
EL PASO, US
53
Vancouver, CA
23
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
20
Wuzhou, CN
17
FLASlocation not on record
16
Santa Barbara, US
14
WTUlocation not on record
13
ILLSlocation not on record
13
Olocation not on record
12
Uppsala, SE
12
MeiseBGlocation not on record
12
Durham, US
10
Weber State Universitylocation not on record
10
Bozeman, US
9
CLUlocation not on record
8
Berlin, DE
8
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
8
Helsinki, FI
7
San Luis Obispo, US
6
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
5
Davis, US
5
Bronx, US
4
Stockholm, SE
4
San Diego, US
4
Albuquerque, US
4
Repubblica di San Marinolocation not on record
4
US
4
Mexico City, MX
3
Portland, US
3
BClocation not on record
3
Museo Achille Folettolocation not on record
3
TROMlocation not on record
3
McWane Science Centerlocation not on record
3
CASlocation not on record
3
Philadelphia, US
3
Pocatello, US
2
Clocation not on record
2
Burlington, US
2
Edmonton, CA
2
Minia, EG
2
Knoxville, US
2
M-Lichenslocation not on record
2
TSBlocation not on record
2
Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung: Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseumlocation not on record
2
Pretoria, ZA
1
Lincoln, US
1
Madrid, ES
1
Clemson, US
1
Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden-Institutelocation not on record
1
Logan, US
1
AUAlocation not on record
1
New Haven, US
1
US
1
Auckland, NZ
1
Henderson, US
1
Ann Arbor, US
1
Bergen, NO
1
Fort Worth, US
1
Severin-McDaniel Insect Collectionlocation not on record
1
Baltimore, US
1
VALElocation not on record
1
68 institutions · 975 of 988 vouchered records shown · 12 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA11 detections
Where the DNA of Acarospora schleicheri was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found11
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 11 detections have coordinates
Open the map1 country0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median18.8 °C 18.8–18.8
Seasonal swing summer↔winter15.6 °C
Max temp (day)26.6 °C
Min temp (night)11.7 °C
Precipitation34.5 mm/mo
Air humidity48.3 %
Moisture balance-98.6 mm/mo
Vapour deficit1,186 Pa
Wind speed2.90 m/s
Cloud cover16.3 %
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 1 detection point · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation1 languages↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 163 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI11 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics10 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗