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Common name(s): n/a.

Identification Information: This crustose lichen can be recognized by its occurrence on bark, pale, elongate lirellae that lack blackcarbonized areas, simple labia, ornamented paraphyse tips, non-inspersed hymenium, short, hyaline 4-5celled ascospores (16–20 × 6–8μm), and absence of secondary metabolites.

ASSESSMENT JUSTIFICATION [criteria: A3c; B2ab(i,ii,iii,iv); C2a(i); D]

Acanthothecis paucispora is a rare script lichen known from two locations in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain of southeastern North America. Though recently described, additional populations of the specie shave not been located despite extensive study of the small amount of suitable habitat that persists in a region fragmented and degraded by anthropogenic forces. The threats to A. paucispora stem from degradation and fragmentation of suitable habitat, as well as projected impacts from sea-level rise mean that the species is considered to occur in a single threat location. Acanthothecis paucispora is therefore assessed here as Critically Endangered.

Assessor/s: Lendemer, J. & Allen, J.; Reviewer/s: Scheidegger, C.; Contributor/s: Weerakoon, G. & Dahlberg, A.

Bibliography:

Brown D. G., K. M. Johnson, T. R. Loveland & D. M. Theobald (2005) Rural Land-Use Trends in the Conterminous United States, 1950-2000. Ecological Applications 15: 1851–1863.

Hall, S. P. & M. P. Schafale. 1999. Conservation Assessment of the southeast Coastal Plain of NorthCarolina, using site-oriented and landscape-oriented analyses. Raleigh: 261.

IUCN (2018) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2018-2. Available at: www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 15 November 2018).

Lendemer, J.C. & J. Allen (2014) Lichen Biodiversity under threat from Sea-Level Rise in the Atlantic Coastal Plain. BioScience 64: 923-931.

Lendemer, J.C. & R.C. Harris (2014) Seven new species of Graphidaceae (Lichenized Ascomycetes) from the Coastal Plain of southeastern North America. Phytotaxa 1891(1):7-38.

Loveland T. R. & W. Acevedo (2000) Land Cover Change in the Eastern United States. United States Geological Survey, Land Cover Trends Project. United States Geological Survey.

Napton, D. E., R. F. Auch, R. Headley & J. L. Taylor (2010) Land changes and their driving forces in the Southeastern United States. Regional Environmental Change 10: 37–53.

Ricketts, T.H., E. Dinerstein, D.M. Olson & C.J. Loucks (1999) Terrestrial ecoregions of North America: a conservation assessment. Island Press, Washington, D.C.

Sallenger A.H. Jr., K.S. Doran & P.A. Howd (2012) Hotspot of accelerated sea-level rise on the Atlantic Coast of North America. Nature Climate Change 2: 884–888.

Terando, A.J., J.K. Costanza, C. Belyea, R.R. Dunn, A.J. McKerrow & J. Collazo (2014) The southernmegalopolis: using the past to predict the future of urban sprawl in the Southeast U.S. PLOS ONE 9(7):e102261.

Find out more about the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria here.