Hi all,
I am a bit perplexed by this Candelariella (RD 110615). On soil, biocrust in sage steppe in western Montana. The color is not well represented by most of the photos, it is very orange-yellow (I included the blurry photo for a truer color). The spores are greater than 14, and were all very regularly shaped, not pointy. Most spores were 17 or bigger. The thallus looks shiny in these scope photos but that is a function of the lights- it looks very granular really. I couldn't see any true stipe on the apothecia in the few that I teased in half. I am fairly certain of 8 spores/ascus but the sections were thick. Could it be C. rosulans?
Thanks!