Dirina mexicana Tehler from the western coasts of Mexico is proposed as a new species. It mostly resembles D. immersa and D. insulana from the western mediterranean region in Europe.

RNase activity in Lasallia hispanica, Parmelia omphalodes and Cornicularia normoerica collected at different times and in different habitats, have shown variability that cannot be solely attributable to variation in habitat or season. Electromorph pattern of RNase activity in L. hispanica and C. normoerica, showed variations among different collection times; some bands are constant but other showed high variability, which could be related to physiological changes. It is also noteworthy that in both species one band is exclusively present in thalli from one of the sampling localities. This could be the result of an adaptation to this habitat and/or due to genetic differences.

Porina fortunata P. M. McCarthy & Etayo sp. nov. (Trichotheliaceae) is described from shaded basalt in Gomera, Canary Islands. It is characterized by a richly rimose to areolate thallus, small, prominent and outwardly blackish perithecia that are internally orange-brown and narrow and elongate, 3(-7)-septate ascospores.

The new species Peltigera phyllidiosa Goffinet & Miadlikowska from the Southern Appalachians, eastern U.S.A., is closely related to P. collina and P. neckeri. Like these species it has a glabrous upper cortex and black fingernail- or saddleshaped apothecial discs, but differs in its laminal phyllidia. Variation in nucleotide sequences of the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) of the nrDNA repeat region correlates with the presence or absence of phyllidia, supporting the distinction of P. phyllidiosa from P. collina and P. neckeri.

The new species Lichinella japonica Harada & Henssen is described for the first time from Japan. L. japonica differs from known species in thallus structure and ecology. It is the first record of the genus from East Asia.

The influence of acute gamma radiation on four physiological characteristics of lichens was investigated. Membrane permeability in irradiated thalli of Cladonia arbuscula, Cetraria islandica and Hypogymnia physodes increased considerably compared to controls. The nitrogen content in Peltigera aphthosa appeared to be stable to acute gamma radiation. Up to 1000 Gy there was no essential decrease in respiration intensity in H. physodes and P. aphthosa or of peroxidase activity in P. aphthosa..

The lichen family Ophioparmaceae contains three genera: Boreoplaca, Hypocenomyce and Ophioparma. The genus Hypocenomyce is reported here for the first time for China, being represented by the species Hypocenomyce scalaris which is distributed in south-western China. For the genus Ophioparma, one new species is described in this paper, namely Ophioparma pruinosa Li S. Wang & Y. Y. Zhang sp. nov., which is characterized by a pruinose thallus and the presence of usnic acid. Ophioparma araucariae is also reported as new for the Chinese lichen biota. Previous reports of O. lapponica in China are recognized as misidentifications of O. ventosa. Descriptions, keys and phylograms are provided for these species.