Cinder Lichen vs Mountain Coati

Aspicilia cinerea compared with Nasua olivacea

Key Differences

• Cinder Lichen is Least Concern while Mountain Coati is Vulnerable.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Cinder Lichen	Mountain Coati
Kingdom	Fungi (Fungi)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Ascomycota (Sac Fungi)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Lecanoromycetes (Lecanoromycetes)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Pertusariales (Pertusariales)	Carnivora (Carnivorans)
Family	Megasporaceae	Procyonidae (Raccoons)
Genus	Aspicilia	Nasua
Species	Aspicilia cinerea	Nasua olivacea

Conservation Status

Cinder Lichen

LC — Least Concern

Mountain Coati

VU — Vulnerable

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Cinder Lichen	Mountain Coati
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Cinder Lichen

Habitat

Native to Europe and North America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Distributed across Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and United States.

Mountain Coati

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Range

Distributed across Ecuador and Venezuela. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Cinder Lichen

Cinder lichen (Aspicilia cinerea) is a crustose lichen in the family Megasporaceae, found widely across the Northern Hemisphere in boreal, montane, and arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. It grows as a flat, gray to ash-gray crust on exposed siliceous rock surfaces—particularly granite, gneiss, and other hard acidic rocks—in open, high-light environments such as moorland boulders, mountain crags, stream-side rocks, and coastal outcrops. The cinder lichen's granular to warty thallus and its pale gray color, reminiscent of volcanic ash or cinder, give the species its common name. Aspicilia cinerea is classified as Least Concern, with widespread and abundant populations in suitable rocky habitats. Like many saxicolous lichens, it is extremely slow-growing and may live for centuries on stable rock surfaces. The species forms part of diverse epilithic lichen communities that colonize bare rock and contribute to biological weathering and soil formation. It is resistant to desiccation and temperature extremes, making it well adapted to exposed subalpine and arctic environments. Cinder lichen has been used as a model organism in studies of lichen growth rates and rock weathering. The genus Aspicilia is one of the largest in lichenized fungi, and molecular work has substantially revised its circumscription.