Five Graphis species are reported as new to Europe from the Mata Nacional do Buçaco, a region in Portugal where graphidoid Graphidaceae are abundant and diverse. The following species were identified: Graphis dendrogramma, G. duplicata, G. gonimica, G. librata and G. pyrrhocheiloides. An updated key is given to the Graphis species known from Europe. All those newly reported were identified with names corresponding to tropical species.

Cyanopyrenia japonica Harada, gen. et sp. nov. is described. It is characterized by having a coccoid cyanobiont, perithecia, sparsely branched paraphyses, thin-walled bitunicate asci, and simple hyaline spores. It resembles Verrucaria, Pyrenocollema, and some Lichinaceae in certain morphological respects, but has no clear affinities. It is known only from the type locality in Shikoku, southwestern Japan, where it grows on frequently submerged rocks in the main flow of a river.

The morphology and the anatomy of the 13 species presently included in the genus Fulgensia were surveyed. Caloplaca aurea and C. paulii, two speciesregarded as closely related to Fulgensia by earlier authors, were also included in the study. Fulgensia was found to exhibit a great variation in both morphology and anatomy. The differences in size, shape and septation of the spores, in the anatomy of cortex and exciple, and in the gross morphology, will presumably motivate a different taxonomic treatment in the future. A tentative separation of the species into four different groups is proposed here. Group A comprises F. australis and F. chanousiae, which appear close to species in Caloplaca sect. Gasparrinia. Groups B and C, each comprises one species, F. schistidii and F. canariensis respectively and group D comprises the remaining nine species, including the type species F. fulgens. The last group may be further split by a more detailed investigation. The present separation of Fulgensia into two subgenera cannot be regarded as taxonomically sound. The genus is probably polyphyletic and the different groups are probably related to different groups within the large genus Caloplaca.

The new species Alyxoria sierramadrensis is described from Mexico where it inhabits limestone rocks. The lichen developing from this fungus is characterized by a placodioid to subfoliose thallus with a white pruinose surface; rounded to shortly elongated ascomata with a black epruinose margin and a widely exposed, white pruinose hymenial disc; hyaline, 3-septate ascospores, 17–25 × 7–9 μm; the presence of anthraquinones rendering the medulla orange. Phylogenetic analyses of nuLSU, mtSSU and RPB2 sequences place this species in the genus Alyxoria (Lecanographaceae). This generic affiliation is surprising because all known Alyxoria species have a crustose thallus. Lecanographaceae mainly includes species without a thallus (lichenicolous taxa) or with a thin crustose thallus, the only exception being Simonyella variegata with a fruticose thallus. The new species belongs to the Alyxoria ochrocheila subgroup, which includes lichens also frequently known to have anthraquinones, white pruinose hymenial discs and 3-septate ascospores. Phylogenetic analyses further determined the systematic position of the monotypic genus Phoebus. This genus, considered as an Arthoniales of uncertain family affiliation, is shown to belong to the Lecanographaceae. With its placodioid thallus, it is another example of a lichenized fungus with a deviating morphology in thallus structure for the family, increasing the number of remarkable cases of parallel evolution of lichen growth forms within the Arthoniales. Phoebus hydrophobius is newly recorded for Mexico.

Fuscoderma papuanorum is described as the first species of this genus to occur so close to the Equator, being part of the austral element of the New Guinea flora. The genus appears to be of considerable age.

“Quality and Quantity: maintaining biological diversity in space and time”—Session II of the 5th Symposium of the International Association for Lichenology, Tartu, Estonia, 16–21 August 2004. As naturalists and especially as lichenologists, we would all agree that lichen diversity is desirable for its own sake. A species-poor forest looks ‘wrong’ to an experienced outdoors-person, and, conversely, a lichen-rich forest is a delight, even if the viewer knows nothing about lichens per se. This is why many people, not just lichen-lovers, agonize over the loss of lichen diversity in our natural landscape.

Peter D. Crittenden served as senior editor of The Lichenologist, the flagship journal in the field of lichenological research, for a period of two decades, between 2000 and 2019. A review of the development of the journal and the publication output during this period is provided. The number of papers published during this period (1197) matches that of all papers published under the three previous senior editors, Peter W. James, David L. Hawksworth and Dennis H. Brown, during a much longer period of 42 years from 1958 to 1999. Peter oversaw important editorial changes to the layout and content of the journal: an increased size with a modern cover design, leaving behind the classic mint-coloured cover of more than 40 years; the addition of ‘thematic issues’ and encouragement of large monographs; implementation of substantial changes to the Code, such as effective electronic publication and obligate registration of new fungal names; and more recently a new policy to reject so-called ‘single naked species descriptions’. Shortly before Peter took over as senior editor, The Lichenologist had received its first impact factor, and Peter managed to continuously increase this measure from around 0.9 to lately up to over 1.5, higher than most other competing journals. The 1197 papers between 2000 and 2019 were published by a total of 1138 different authors, more than half of whom appeared just once as author, whereas a small number participated in numerous (up to 93) papers. There was a continuous increase in the mean number of authors per paper per year, from below 2.5 to around 3.5, the highest numbers ranging between 11 and 30; still, c. 75% of all papers between 2000 and 2019 were single-authored or had up to three authors. Based on affiliations at the time of publication, two thirds of author contributions came from Europe (66%), 13% from North America, 9% from Asia and 7% from Latin America. Likewise, almost half of the study areas were located in Europe and around 10% each in North America, South America and Asia. The countries with the highest number of studies included, in descending order, the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden. North America and Europe were over-represented in terms of author contributions, whereas Africa, Latin America, Australia and Oceania were over-represented in terms of study areas. The 1197 papers analyzed encompassed a broad diversity of topics, classified into 32 categories. Taxonomy of lichenized fungi was the most frequent component, representing the focal point in almost half of all studies, followed by phylogeny and evolution, ecology, and the taxonomy of lichenicolous fungi. Around two thirds of the currently accepted genera of lichenized fungi were treated, with a significant correlation between known species richness and the number of papers in which a genus was treated, underlining the taxonomic representativity of papers published in the journal during the past two decades. Examples of genera that were treated more frequently than expected included commonly studied model organisms, such as Lobaria, and those frequently featured in ecological or other non-taxonomic studies, such as Xanthoria. Species-rich tropical genera, particularly in the Graphidaceae, were generally under-represented. Mean number of authors per paper per volume and total number of country origins of authors per volume were the best predictors of impact factor, followed by diversity of study countries per volume, mean number of study countries per paper per volume, mean number of topics per paper per volume, and proportion of studies with phylogenetic components per volume. Individual papers that contributed to high impact factors included broad-scale revisionary treatments and worldwide keys to species-rich taxa, substantial phylogenetic reclassifications of known taxonomic groups, papers dealing with novel methodological approaches of broad interest, and broad-scale studies related to environmental change and lichen biomonitoring.

Lecanographa uniseptata is described as new to science. It is characterized by having small rounded to lirellate ascomata, and 1-septate ascospores. The species is known from tropical Africa (Gabon) and tropical America (Guatemala).

The new species Ochrolechia splendens Lumbsch and Messuti, is described from Mexico, south-western North America, where it occurs on exposed siliceous rocks. It is characterized by relatively large apothecia with entire margins, the presence of the gyrophoric acid chemosyndrome in the thallus and apothecial disc and the presence of lichexanthone as major components.

Gyalidea cylindrical is described as new, living on pleurocarpic epiphytic mosses in shaded situations.Gyalidea phyllophila is recorded for the first time in Europe. Both of them have been collected in the French Atlantic Pyrénées.

Three name changes are proposed for the lichen checklist. Caloplaca heppiana should be called C. flavescens (Huds.)Laundon comb. nov. It is suggested that Coelocaulon muricatum (Ach.)Laundon comb. nov. is a more appropriate name for C. aculeatum subsp. hispidum. The name Schismatomma virgineum should be replaced with S. cretaceum (Hue)Laundon comb. nov.