Two lichenicolous species are discussed: the recently described Unguiculariopsis nephromae, which occurs on Nephroma species in Canada, Fennoscandia, North America and Russia, is combined into Protounguicularia; and Hyalopeziza rapax sp. nov. is described from Pseudocyphellariacrocata in Alaska. In discussing generic placements, it is concluded that the species now known as Olla transiens is better accommodated in Protounguicularia and the species is combined into that genus. Attention is drawn to variability in general appearance of P. nephromatis, particularly the occurrence of both superficial and erumpent apothecia in the same species.

The lichen species of the genus Thamnolia, with their striking wormlike thalli and frequent occurrence in arctic and tundra environments, have often been debated with regard to the use of chemistry in lichen taxonomy. Phylogenetic studies have arrived at different conclusions as to the recognition of species in the genus, but in a recent study based on the analyses of six nuclear markers (genes or noncoding regions) of a worldwide sample of Thamnolia, we showed the existence of three well-supported lineages with two different chemistries and geographical distributions. Here, we present two analyses based on ITS and three markers, respectively, which were extended from the study mentioned above to include type specimens and additional Thamnolia strains and taxa. In these analyses the same three clades were retrieved. A putative DEAD-box helicase is used here for the first time as an informative phylogenetic marker to provide taxonomic resolution at species level. The distribution of morphological and chemical characters across the phylogeny was analyzed and it was concluded that three morphologically cryptic, but genetically well supported, species occur: T. vermicularis s. str., T. subuliformis s. str. and T. tundrae sp. nov. Thamnolia vermicularis s. str. contains individuals with uniform secondary chemistry (producing thamnolic acid) and a rather limited distribution in the European Alps, Tatra Mts and the Western Carpathians, a distribution which might result from glacial survival in an adjacent refugium/refugia. Thamnolia subuliformis s. str. is widely distributed in all hemispheres and the samples contain two chemotypes (either with thamnolic or squamatic acids). Thamnolia tundrae is described as new; it produces baeomycesic and squamatic acids, and has a distribution limited to the arctic tundra of Eurasia extending to the Aleutian Islands in North America. It may have survived the latest glaciation in coastal refugia near its present distribution. Thus, secondary chemistry alone is not suitable for characterizing species in Thamnolia, secondary chemistry and geographical origin are informative, and the ITS region can be confidently used for species recognition. Nomenclatural notes are given on several other names that have been used in Thamnolia.

Phylogenetic reconstructions based on ITS/5.8S and mtSSU DNA sequence data suggest a close relationship between two Lecanora species containing calycin and usnic acid and the Lecanora polytropa group. Lecanora solaris Yakovchenko & Davydov sp. nov. is described from the Altai Mountains in Russia. Its gross morphology resembles that of L. somervellii as both species have an effigurate, citrine-yellow thallus (due to the production of calycin). However, L. solaris is distinguished from L. somervellii by having a small, squamulose to marginally lobate umbilicate thallus and apothecia with a persistent margin, whereas L. somervellii has a large, distinctly placodioid thallus and an apothecial margin that is soon excluded.

The genus Pertusaria is a conspicuous component of the Tasmanian rainforest lichen flora and is represented by five species: P. gibberosa Müll.Arg., P. gymnospora sp. nov., P. jamesii sp. nov., P. novaezelandiae Szatala and P. truncata Krempelh. Pertusaria nothofagi Zahlbr. is added to the synonymy of P. truncata. Descriptive, ecological and distributional data for each species are provided.

Thelidium pluvium sp. nov. is newly described from rocks in streams in Great Britain, Ireland and Norway. It is characterized by perithecia which are partly covered by a thalline layer, a thin involucrellum, and 1-septate spores. A provisional key is given to species of Thelidium in north-west Europe.

Generalized linear modelling was applied in analysing the bioindicator value of epiphytic lichens for air pollution around an industrial centre in the Siberian mountains using data published previously by Zobel (1988a). The occurrence of taxa on tree boles was systematically related to the distance from the pollution source and to the altitude from sea level. Binomial distribution was postulated to describe the random variation and maximum likelihood and quasi-likelihood methods were used. Zobel had pooled the original data by grouping distance and altitude into three qualitative levels. The model for pooled data with qualitative factors generally had a poor fit. We assigned quantitative values, linear and quadratic contrasts, to the altitude and distance levels and a linear by linear interaction term between altitude and distance. In most taxa the interaction appeared significant, and these models had generally a better fit and smaller overdispersion than qualitative models. Finally, more effective analysis was performed on the original plotwise data utilizing unpublished quantitative information for distance and altitude. Most species (16/19) had a significant and usually positively monotone response to distance. In the majority of these (10/16) the effect of distance varied between the altitude levels most often so that the lichens were scarcer at low altitude and their increase was faster at high altitude.

In the face of changing environments, conservation is tending towards an adaptive framework which accounts for the movement of species in the landscape. This makes it necessary to quantify population dynamics of species of concern. We studied the nationally scarce Cladonia botrytes, a priority Biodiversity Action Plan species in Britain, examining population dynamics at two scales: first, we studied the demography for two populations over a period of 13 years. The monitored populations declined to complete absence, starting from 77 mats on 19 stumps. Individual mats persisted maximally for up to 7 years, but over 78% of more than 290 individual cases persisted only 1 year, and more than 93% of mats disappeared within 3 years. Secondly, we performed a targeted regional survey of more than 800 stumps across an additional 27 sites in the centre of the lichen's distribution in Britain in 2006. The largest populations known from 1998 were revisited and found to no longer support the species; only 9 stumps in 5 sites supported C. botrytes in 2006. We show that C. botrytes in Britain is characterized by short individual and population persistence times, probably locally dependent upon vegetative succession including overgrowth and shading, and the degree of stump decay. The species' transient nature poses a particular challenge to conservation, though we identify comparable systems from which lessons may be learned.

The in-vitro growth rate of soredia from the epiphytic lichen species Physcia tenella was tested at different concentrations of phenols added in an in vitro experiment designed to evaluate the allelopathic effects of bark derived substances in stem flow. The conditions used were designed to resemble those found on bark of Populus×canadensis, as this tree species has been widely used for lichen mapping studies in Germany. Bark phenolic glycosides, flavonoids and tannins undergo hydrolytic decomposition in stem flow, resulting in a variety of monomeric phenolic acids, aldehydes and alcohols. Eleven phenolic substances of different biosynthetic origin in the concentration range between 10−6 M and 10−3 M in the culture medium were tested. IC50 values were calculated for each substance. Inhibition was highest for catechol, substituted phenolic glycosides, benzoic and ellagic acids, moderate for flavonoids, gallic acid, salicylic alcohol, salicylic aldehyde and low for salicylic acid. The tests show that bark phenols in natural concentrations inhibit soredial growth of the test species Physcia tenella and therefore have an influence on the growth of lichens on trees.

Fifteen species of the Caliciales are reported from Africa and Macaronesia. Calicium subquercinum, Chaenotheca chrysocephala, Ch. trichialis, Coniocybe furfuracea, C. gracillima, Sphinctrinella calicioides and Tylophoron protrudem are new to Africa; Calicium trabinellum and Strongyleuma exsertum are new to Macaronesia.

The species belong to two groups with respect to their distribution: (1) the borealtemperate species with a wide distribution in the Northern Hemisphere, such as Chaenotheca chrysocephala and Ch. trichialis, occur only at high elevations, usually about or above 3000 m; (2) one including, for example, Tylophoron moderatum, T. protrudens and Schistophoron—species occurring at low or moderately high elevations with a subtropical/tropical distribution.

The new genus and species Nyungwea pallida is characterized by a thin thallus lichenized with Trentepohlia and pale stipes producing goniocysts. Its taxonomic position is uncertain. It is named after the large pristine montane forest of Nyungwe in Rwanda (East Africa) where it was first found; it is also known from the Mabira forest in Uganda.

Heteroacanthella ellipsospora is described as new to science. It is the only known lichenicolous Heteroacanthella, always found parasitizing apothecia and the surrounding thallus of the crustose epiphytic lichen Lecanora carpinea. The new parasite has so far only been found in two Spanish provinces, Jaén and Madrid. The shape and size of its basidiospores, the basidia with acanthoid ornamentation, acanthohyphidia, as well as its parasitic lichenicolous habitat, with a replacement of host tissues by the parasite hymenium, are useful diagnostic characters.

The new genus Lambinonia Sérus. & Diederich is introduced for the lichenicolous hyphomycete Melanconium strigulae Elenkin & Woron. This species forms dark sporodochia on the surface or at the margin of the thalli, or extruding out of the perithecia and pycnidia of the foliicolous Strigula buxi, S. nemathora and S. nitidula. It is so far known from the western Caucasus (Georgia and Russia), southern Italy, Tenerife (Canary Islands), St-Lucia (West Indies), and Burundi and Rwanda in Africa. The new combination Lambinonia strigulae (Elenkin & Woron.) Sérus. & Diederich is introduced and a neotype collection is designated.

In the present study, we characterized the mating-type locus of Knightiella splachnirima (Icmadophilaceae) using degenerate and inverse PCR techniques. We screened for the presence of both mating-type locus idiomorphs in DNA extracts of minuscule samples of haploid thalline tissue. We found that only one of the two idiomorphs was present in each sample, and the mating-type ratio (MAT1-1:MAT1-2) was very balanced, being 8:10 and 13:14 at local and global scales, respectively. This indicates that the species is probably self-incompatible and requires the presence of compatible mating partners for sexual reproduction (heterothallic mating system). Furthermore, we provide a mating-type screening protocol with K. splachnirima specific mating-type locus primers, which could serve as an essential tool for the conservation management of this rare Australasian endemic.

Lobarina scrobiculata (better known as Lobaria scrobiculata) is a widespread lichen, threatened and Red-Listed in various European countries. Microsatellite markers for the mycobiont of L. scrobiculata were developed in order to investigate its genetic diversity in the Iberian Peninsula and Europe and to design effective conservation strategies. A total of 7 polymorphic markers were isolated and characterized. These microsatellites were tested in natural populations found in the Iberian Peninsula. The number of observed alleles ranged from 3 to 8, and the Nei's unbiased gene diversity from 0·26 to 0·59. These microsatellite markers are the first to be developed for L. scrobiculata and they will be useful for population studies and for the assessment of the conservation status of this species.

Well-developed ascospores of Rinodina flavosoralifera have been observed for the first time. The ascospores are described and illustrated and new data on the chemistry and distribution of this species are provided. New chorological data on Rinodina disjuncta are also included.

The new species Lepraria santosii Argüello & Crespo is described from the Canary Islands. It is characterized by a crustose to subsquamulose thallus with slightly raised rim and the presence of atranorin and the stictic acid chemosyndrome. It is currently known from Tenerife (Canary Islands), where it grows on soil over basaltic rocks in the laurel forest. Twelve new sequences of the ITS region from this species and L. isidiata were obtained and analysed with sequences downloaded from GenBank. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses suggest that Lepraria santosii is closely related to L. isidiata. The latter name is here lectotypified and the characters for the distinction of the two species from similar taxa are discussed.

Analyses of morphological, anatomical, chemical and DNA sequences led to the recognition of ten species of Anzia in the Hengduan Mountains, which harbour all species known from China, including A. pseudocolpota sp. nov. and A. hypomelaena comb. & stat. nov. Furthermore, populations similar to A. hypoleucoides but with narrow lobes and a yellow-orange pigmented medulla may be a phylogenetically distinct species tentatively recognized as A. aff. hypoleucoides. The species are primarily distinguished by the presence or absence of a central axis, the colour and shape of the spongy cushion and the nature of the secondary compounds. A key to all known species of Anzia from China is presented.