Desert Crater Lichen

Diploschistes diacapsis (also called the desert crater lichen) is a ground-dwelling crustose lichen in the family Graphidaceae. It forms a thick, pale grey to greyish-white crust that cracks into small patches. Its fruiting bodies (apothecia) are sunken and often dusted with a powdery coating (pruina), and it produces brown, muriform (multichambered) ascospores. The lichen body (thallus) contains lecanoric and diploschistesic acids. The species typically grows in arid and semi-arid regions on calcium-rich or gypsum soils, where...