''Lecidea atrobrunnea'' is a

crustose lichen Crustose lichens are lichens that form a crust which strongly adheres to the Substrate (biology), substrate (soil, rock, tree bark, etc.), making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichen ...

in the

Lecideaceae The Lecideaceae are a family of lichens in the order Lecideales (Ascomycota, class Lecanoromycetes). Genera According to a recent (2022) estimate, the Lecideaceae comprise 29 genera and about 260 species. The following list indicates the genus n ...

family, found in mountains of the continental western United States and

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. With other lichen communities, it forms dark vertical drip-like stripings along drainage tracks in the rock faces, resulting in Native Americans giving the name " Face of a Young Woman Stained with Tears" to

Half Dome Half Dome is a granite dome at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California. It is a well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape. One side is a sheer face while the other three sides are smooth ...

. This combined lichen community appears black from a distance, but brown up close. It varies greatly in its overall appearance from colony to colony. ''L atrobrunnea'' subsp. ''atrobrunnea'' has been found to be common in very common in high

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

zones and

alpine zone Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...

s. ''L atrobrunnea'' subsp. ''saxosa'' ("saxosa" meaning "rock") has been found in high elevations in the San Francisco Peaks and

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain � ...

. The

prothallus A prothallus, or prothallium, (from Latin ''pro'' = forwards and Greek ''θαλλος'' (''thallos'') = twig) is usually the gametophyte stage in the life of a fern or other pteridophyte. Occasionally the term is also used to describe the young ...

and

apothecia An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are mo ...

are black, while the

thallus Thallus (plural: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. Many of these organisms wer ...

areole In botany, areoles are small light- to dark-colored bumps on cacti out of which grow clusters of spines. Areoles are important diagnostic features of cacti, and identify them as a family distinct from other succulent plants. Gordon Rowley - W ...

s are brown. The upper surface is usually pale to dark reddish brown in the center of areoles. In squamulous specimens, the lower surface can be seen, and is shiny and dark. The scientific name ''atrobrunnea'' is a combination of two

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

words: ''Ater'' from "atro", meaning "black" and "brunnea" from ''brunneus'' meaning "dark brown". The combination of the two means "blackish-brown". It is commonly found on rock faces in the Sierra Nevada. The communities often completely cover the exposed surface of the rock, or form intricate multicolored mosaics with other lichen communities. Its communities are part of the aesthetic appeal to visitors of

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

and

Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California. The park was established on September 25, 1890, and today protects of forested mountainous terrain. Encompassing ...

. It is found in the Rocky Mountains, including in

s, and in the United States

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

range. It tightly adheres to the rock faces giving it the appearance of being painted on. It is a known host species for the

lichenicolous fungus A lichenicolous fungus is a parasitic fungus that only lives on lichen as the host. A lichenicolous fungus is not the same as the fungus that is the component of the lichen, which is known as a lichenized fungus. They are most commonly specific to ...

'' Muellerella pygmaea'' var. ''pygmaea''.Helgi Hallgrímsson & Guðríður Gyða Eyjólfsdóttir (2004)
''Íslenskt sveppatal I - smásveppir'' [Checklist of Icelandic Fungi I - Microfungi
Fjölrit Náttúrufræðistofnunar. Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands [Icelandic Institute of Natural History]. ISSN 1027-832X

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q10555999 Lecideales Lichen species Lichens described in 1805 Fungi of the United States Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Fungi without expected TNC conservation status

See also

References