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(Map updated: 11 August 2009)

This upland species of mineralised rocks has the outward appearance of cracked lizard skin. The thallus is a rich, glossy yellow to dark brown colour. The areoles or facets of the thallus are like miniature plates separated by a maze of deep cracks like a broken car windscreen. The small, largely deformed discs are flat and at first immersed, when they can sometimes seem to be aspicilioid. All reactions are negative. Similar species include very brown forms of Lecidea fuscoatra (cortex C+ red) and the Scottish mountain lichen Lecidea paupercula (which can be K+ yellow and Pd+ orange, but is currently not known from Ireland). I. athroocarpa has been recorded from Counties Kerry, Donegal and Antrim.

Key characteristics

• Thallus glossy brown, cracked areolate; reptilian-like, discs aspicilioid when young
• Mineralised or schistose/gneissose rocks.

Original text submitted by Vince J. Giavarini