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Eight new species are described from the Chihuahuan Desert in southern New Mexico: Acarospora agostiniana, A. divisa, A. fissurata, A. ryanii, Sarcogyne brouardiana, S. coeruleonigricans, S. malpaiensis, and S. nogalensis. Three species, Acarospora coloradiana, A. peltastica, and A. utahensis are not treated as synonyms of A. strigata, a South American endemic. Thirty-four species of Acarosporaceae are reported from the Chihuahuan Desert in southern New Mexico. Fifty-six species of Acarosporaceae are reported from New Mexico. It is estimated that 416 species of described Acarosporales occur worldwide, most in need of revisions. Including species described or taken out of synonymy in this paper, there are 120 species of Acarosporaceae reported from North America north of Mexico. Caeruleum heppii is not a member of the Acarosporales. A key is supplied for 93 species of Acarosporaceae in the southwestern United States (Arizona, southern and central California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and western Texas), which covers 77.5% of the described species in North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eighteen described Acarosporaceae are reported from the Chihuahuan Desert in southern New Mexico. Ten species reported by Magnusson from northern New Mexico were collected in the Chihuahuan Desert. Four species described by Magnusson are revised and taken out of synonymy: Acarospora amabilis, A. applanata, A. carnegiei and A. tenebrica. The squamulose yellow species A. organensis, new for science, was determined as A. xanthophana by Magnusson, a species endemic to South America. Acarospora organensis differs in having a higher hymenium than the two common and similar squamulose species, A. socialis from coastal Mexico and California and A. radicata from the New Mexican, Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. Acarospora subcontigua is reported new for North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular phylogenetic analyses of newly generated sequences from North American material belonging to the Acarospora glaucocarpa group recovered these sequences in a previously unrecognized clade sister to European members of the group. North American material is recognized as a distinct clade, named the "Sarcogyne canadensis–wheeleri clade," and its constituent species are described. Four new calciphytes from North America are described from the clade: S. alcesensis, S. bernardinensis, S. convexa and S. wheeleri. Sarcogyne wheeleri is the taxon North American lichenologists usually identified as A. glaucocarpa. Acarospora canadensis was recovered in the clade and is revised and transferred to Sarcogyne. A neotype is designated for A. glaucocarpa. We transfer S. bolleana, a rare species described from Texas, to Acarospora and do not consider it a synonym of S. arenosa. We do not recognize A. glaucocarpa s.str. as occurring in continental North America. We supply a key to the S. canadensis-wheeleri clade. Currently we report 102 species of Acarosporaceae from North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]