ccantley's Favorites

For more fruit bats roosting here, cf. inaturalist.org/observations/192422293; for fruit bat "acro*batics" in this tree, *cf. inaturalist.org/observations/192435661, and inaturalist.org/observations/192437621

• apothecia unperforated or perforated
• lobes of thallus have digitate margin (finger-like projections)
• black cilia scarce or absent on upper surface
• lower surface black, tending to brown near the margin

4th photo (hydrated condition)

• top - Parotrema cetratum
• bottom - Parmotrema subrigidum

The spineless needlefish with a crocodile-like beak, largest of the Belonidae (Needlefish) family, grows up to 5 feet and up to 10 pounds, differing from other needlefish by a more stout, tubular body, and a shorter head

The yellow may be coralline algae... or, Hump Coral: can you say from my above-the-water-surface photos?

The thallus is very Hypotrachyna-like, but with apothecia, instead of soralia at the lobe tips.

On the branch of a Red Oak, Quercus rubra.

EDIT: 5th photo added. It shows

• black cilia on a the surface of a few lobes
• a few apothecia with distinctly lobulate margins, a peculiarity of Parmotrema cetratum

On periodically inundated siliceous bedrock on the bank of Haw River.

For a goodly part of the year, this vertical rock face is underwater, with fish swimming by, and canoes and kayakers passing overhead.

Black prothallus present, and obvious. Shaded, East-facing rock [This contrasts with the very similar looking Lecanora oreinoides that however lacks a black prothallus and occurs on sunny exposed rocks.]

For the Coralline Algae (Order Corallinales), cf. inaturalist.org/observations/190461589
For the Black-foot 'Opihi (Cellana exarata), cf. inaturalist.org/observations/190468853
For the Limu 'Aki'aki (Ahnfeltiopsis concinna), cf. inaturalist.org/observations/190557483

From @phelsumas4life: this species of urchin evolved specifically for life in these waveswept intertidal zones

Thallus too large for Parmotrema reticulatum, and green not blue-ish.

Upper surface lacks the reticulate pattern that is present in Parmotrema reticulatum.

Very few, scarce, black cilia at the margins of the thallus lobes.

Lower surface mostly black, then brown, then at the very edge may be white. However, the black does continue all the way to the edge on some parts of the thallus.

Discontinuous terminal soredia at the lobe tips.

Observation is for the yellow spheres of fungus dotting the surface of Flavoparmelia caperata.

Sections of the surface of the host lichen have been whitened , the white medulla exposed, presumably by the deleterious influence of Burgella flavoparmeliae.

Reference: Flora of Lichenicolous Fungi, 2022, pages 56-57.

The Flavoparmelia caperata was growing on a large Loblolly Pine, Pinus taeda, on the west side of the Sandhills Garden.

On vertical face of siliceous rock, with an east exposure, on the shaded margin of the Haw River.

Accompanied below by Enterographa hutchinsiae.

4th photo - Hydration of the thallus did not alter the color.

With Ruth's D.UV/H.UV modus operandi:
• Desiccated (dry), ambient light;
• contrast with 365nm UV light;
• Hydrated (wet), which I so thankfully learned from @mjpapay;
• contrast with 365nm UV light

On the trunk of Carpinus caroliniana, beside the Haw River.

As yet, I have found no match amongst Pertusaria or Lepra species.

Without the camera flash, the thallus appears brown. With the camera flash, the color is a dark olive-green.

Each "wart" has a single dark mark at the center of its apex. This, one would think, would help in the identification.

1st photo - desiccated condition/color
2nd photo - hydrated condition with millimeter scale
3rd photo - larger view
4th photo - rock face with many large colonies (the largest gathering and of the largest colonies that I have ever seen)
5th photo - smaller rosette

Hydration did not appear to affect thallus color. 3rd photo is hydrated condition. Initially the surface repelled water, as if hydrophobic. Repeated attempts to wet the surface eventually slightly succeeded.

On Acer rubrum bark, some of the phenomenal proliferation around town... the maple trunk in the photo is almost completely covered with high numbers of well-camouflaged encrusted gray to brown scale covers that blend in with the bark, & removed protective covers reveal a pearly shine – like an oyster shell interior – of this common pest of maples that can cause gradual host plant branch dieback and even death as the scale population grows; sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and multiple other large-statured trees, including catalpa (Catalpa), hackberry (Celtis), mulberry (Morus), sycamore / planetree (Platanus), elm (Ulmus), sweetgum (Liquidambar), willow (Salix), tulip poplar (Liriodendron), black locust (Robinia), boxelder (Acer negundo), soapberry (Sapindaceae), & holly and gallberry (Ilex), also grape vines, serve as hosts of this armored insect

High populations and successive generations can completely cover the bark (dead scale covers may remain attached for several years), usually more abundant on trees in cities than in natural areas, individual scale covers overlapping each other, infested bark taking on a darkened texture, finely bumpy (close) or coarsely grainy (at a distance), noticeably distinct from the smooth bark of certain host plants, notably young maples

Appearance:
• Mature female covers, called tests, are circular, to ⅛” (3 mm) in diameter, and gray with a black center
• Male covers are oval, similar in color, and smaller
• Nymphs, called crawlers, are orange, and less than 1mm

Range:
Southeastern United States of America from Maryland south to Florida and west to Texas

Life cycle:
Regionally 1 generation per year, overwintering on the bark as juveniles: the crawler emergence period may vary slightly year to year, depending on temperature; monitor for them between mid-July and late August

With Ruth's D.UV.H.UV modus operandi:
• Desiccated (dry), ambient light;
• contrast with 365nm UV light;
• Hydrated (wet), which I so thankfully learned from @mjpapay;
• contrast with 365nm UV light

The shrouds have dropped and the caps have raised.

The patch I photographed yesterday were next to a Deer trail, and this afternoon only one stub of a stem remained, the rest presumably devoured by the Deer. Fortunately, yesterday, I espied this separate group up the steep slope away from the Deer trail, and obscured from above by an overhanging root.