Usnea mutabilis is a grayish-yellowish pale green, unequally branching, shrubby (fruticose) 3–7 cm long lichen commonly anchored on holdfasts on trees, mostly in eastern North America, sometimes in chaparral shrubs or pines in California.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, It is darker green than other members of the genus Usnea. The surface is covered with isolated, or clusters of, isidia. It lacks apothecia. The common name is bloody beard lichen. The thick axis and medulla are dull red.
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 Usnea mutabilis has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens7
Marker genes2
GenBank sequences9
eDNA detections7
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.
★COI-5P★ITS9
animal barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI
The complete instruction manualUsnea mutabilis carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size≈31 983 833 bp assembly estimate
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
THIS GENOME Usnea mutabilis0.03 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
Assembly levelScaffold
07Deep time~12.2 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 origin12.2 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 073 records
Wild obs. + sensor73
Museum / vouchered998
Other2
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO3 184 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 accuracy41% within 1 km
≤100 m 17≤1 km 8≤10 km 3>10 km 33
61 georeferenced · 12 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor73
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 accuracy36% within 1 km
≤100 m 11≤1 km 99≤10 km 161>10 km 36
307 georeferenced · 691 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence998
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 institutions38 of 61 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Bronx, US
308
US
89
ILLSlocation not on record
78
FLASlocation not on record
69
Durham, US
61
St. Paul, US
57
ASUlocation not on record
53
Madison, US
51
DOI/NPS, Colonial National Historical Parklocation not on record
18
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
18
Chapel Hill, US
18
Museum of the Rockieslocation not on record
17
Chicago, US
11
Philadelphia, US
11
AUAlocation not on record
10
Boise, US
8
Oregon State Universitylocation not on record
8
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
7
New Brunswick, US
6
Stockholm, SE
5
Clarksville, US
5
New Haven, US
5
Santa Barbara, US
5
LDlocation not on record
5
CLUlocation not on record
4
Wuzhou, CN
4
Cambridge, US
3
Bando, JP
3
Fort Hayslocation not on record
3
Catholic University of Pekinglocation not on record
3
Uppsala, SE
3
Knoxville, US
3
Minia, EG
3
NYSlocation not on record
2
Miami, US
2
Bergen, NO
2
WTUlocation not on record
2
Mexico City, MX
2
M-Lichenslocation not on record
2
Ann Arbor, US
2
Columbia, US
2
South Kensington, GB
2
McWane Science Centerlocation not on record
1
Museo Achille Folettolocation not on record
1
Toyota city nature sanctuarylocation not on record
1
College Park, US
1
Madrid, ES
1
Durham, US
1
Toronto, CA
1
US
1
Davis, US
1
Edmonton, CA
1
Pocatello, US
1
University of Southern Mississippilocation not on record
1
TSBlocation not on record
1
Trondheim, NO
1
BDBClocation not on record
1
Burlington, US
1
Fort Worth, US
1
Clemson, US
1
Western Carolina Universitylocation not on record
1
61 institutions · 989 of 998 vouchered records shown · 7 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA7 detections
Where the DNA of Usnea mutabilis 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 found7
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 7 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 median7.40 °C 7.40–7.40
Seasonal swing summer↔winter25.4 °C
Max temp (day)9.60 °C
Min temp (night)3.00 °C
Precipitation344 mm/mo
Air humidity64.9 %
Moisture balance263 mm/mo
Vapour deficit428 Pa
Wind speed2.90 m/s
Cloud cover44.6 %
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 2 detection points · 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 073 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI7 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics7 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗