Solorina simensis Hochst. ex Flotow differs from S. saccata (L.) Ach. in spore ornamentation and chemical properties as well as in its mainly plane apothecia and blue-green photobiont. It is here considered a distinct species. Solorina crocoides (Nyl.) Hue is briefly commented upon.

The post-fire colonization of a Quercus ilex forest by epiphytic lichens has been studied in Catalonia (NE Spain), eleven years after a fire. Specific richness and lichen biomass have been studied separately on Quercus ilex, Erica arborea, Rosmarinus officinalis. and Cistus albidus, to reveal possible differences among phorophytes in facilitating lichen establishment. Shrubs play an important role in colonization by common species whereas the stools of Quercus ilex offer a suitable substratum for rarer species. Cistus albidus, with the highest lichen diversity and 98·2% of the total biomass of macrolichens, is the most suitable phorophyte for lichen establishment.

Six species of Pyxine have been reported from Europe (including the Azores), but only two, Pyxine sorediata (syn. P. endochrysoides) and P. subcinerea (syn. P. chrysanthoides), are now accepted, the remaining four being excluded for various reasons. Buellia convexa is found to be a synonym of B. pulverulenta.

Ten foliose and placodioid species of Physciaceae are reported from the National Park Torres del Paine and from other areas in southernmost Chile. Phaeophyscia constipate and Physconia perisidiosa are reported as new to the Southern Hemisphere, Phaeophyscia endococcina var. endococcina and Phaeorrhiza nimbosa as new to South America, and Dimelaena oreina and Physcia kalbii as new to Chile. The latter was recorded only from the island of Chiloé. Dimelaena appears to be rare in Magallanes and has been recorded only from one steppe locality. Phaeophyscia constipate and Phaeorrhiza nimbosa appear to be confined to the driest steppes, in areas with occurrences of rock outcrops associated with calcareous soil. Physconia muscigena has a similar habitat ecology, but a wider distribution, and is quite common. Physconia perisidiosa and Physcia adscendens were found to be very common in all bioclimatic zones surveyed in the lowland of Torres del Paine. The Physciaceae species treated here are all bipolar or subcosmopolitan, and belong to genera lacking an austral or South American element in the area studied, in contrast to the pattern in all other reasonably large macrolichen groups, except among cetrarioid genera. Their habitat ecology is also very similar to conditions known in the Northern Hemisphere. On the other hand, other widely distributed Northern Hemisphere species such as Physcia stellaris and P. aipolia have known distribution patterns in South America which are disjunct and northern and very different from those of the species treated here.

The species of the genus Immersaria in Iran are reviewed. Immersaria iranica is described as a new species in the Lecideaceae, characterized by pycnoconidia opening by stellate, winding cracks and 2′-O-methylsuperphyllinic acid as major secondary metabolite. The characters separating it from other taxa of the Lecideaceae are discussed. Immersaria athroocarpa and I. cupreoatra are new records for Iran. An identification key and a table with diagnostic characters of the species hitherto known from Iran are provided.

For a long time, agriculture and recurrent fires have been the main factors promoting diversity changes in Mediterranean areas. We examined the effect of irrigated and non-irrigated crops and fires on the epiphytic lichen diversity of holm oak trees in the Vall d'Albaida region (Valencia, Spain). Lichen diversity was studied by calculating the LDV (Lichen Diversity Value) and the proportion of functional groups. No significant differences were observed between areas located near irrigated or non-irrigated crops. Fire-affected areas tended to harbour lower LDV and species richness than those influenced by agriculture. By using lichen functional groups, it has been shown that eutrophication tolerance, substratum pH affinity and, to some extent, thallus growth form are the main factors driving epiphytic lichen diversity in this rural area.

A new species of Cryptothecia (Arthoniales, lichenized ascomycetes) is described from Northern Thailand. The species has been collected from planted mango trees at a single site in a rural area and is characterized by the punctiform soralia, soredia containing gyrophoric acid and 8-spored asci.

Surface alkanes were extracted from thalli of populations of Xanthoria parietina growing in two different Piedmont (Italy) valleys: Susa and Vermenagna. The main n-alkanes detected in the Susa Valley were C27, C28, C29 and C31, whereas C25, C27 and C29 were the most abundant in Vermenagna Valley. The results indicate that the n-alkane qualitative composition of X. parietina was affected both by elevation and climatic characteristics typical of the two valleys considered.

Both light and scanning electron microscopy have been used to investigate the morphology and development of Speerschneidera euploca (Tuck.) Trevisan. This monotypic genus produces lecanoralean apothecia and Lecanora-type asci; the latter negates the assumed relationship to Teloschistes and the Teloschistaceae. The information on morphology, ecology, development and chemistry indicate that the genus is appropriately placed in the Lecanoraceae close to Lecania. S. euploca is found on calcareous outcrops from Missouri southwest to Texas and Mexico. It produces only a brown pigment concentrated in the tips of the paraphyses.

Sociological tables are given for five communities found on Alnus incana in Troms, North Norway: Arthopyrenietum punctiformis P. James et al., Lecanoretum chloropoliae ass. nov., Lecanoretum subfuscae Hil., Lobarion pulmonariae Ochsn. and Parmelietum olivaceae Barkm. Snow cover and shading from large ferns are important factors governing the distribution of the communities on the tree trunks.

The genus Coppinsia (lichenized Ascomycetes, Agyriaceae) with the single species C. minutissima sp. nov. is described as new from the British Isles. This minute lichen occurs on soil and bryophytes in metal-rich habitats. It is characterized by a minute thallus, biatorine apothecia with an almost reduced but generally cupulate exciple, slightly branched and apically unthickened paraphyses, a Trapelia-type ascus, and non-septate, ovoid ascospores.

The quantitative distribution of five lichen acids, including fumarprotocetraric acid, in seven specimens of Australian scyphose Cladonia species was determined by reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography, using butylated hydroxy-toluene as internal standard. The highest concentrations of lichen acids were found in the scyphi and it is suggested that this localized distribution of lichen acids is due to repeated upward capillary flow, of saturated solutions of the acids, in the podetia followed by evaporation in the upper parts of the podetia.

Adobe® Photoshop® CS3 Extended software and a photographic time series were used to generate accurate and precise measures of change in the area, perimeter and diameter of Rhizocarpon thalli at one, three and seven year intervals. Systematic measurements at a fixed grid of eight diameters per thallus showed a rapid and highly variable diametric growth phase in the smallest thalli (<5 mm2) and slower diametric growth (<0·01 mm2 yr–1) in larger thalli (5–500 mm2). When standardized to an annual rate, the areal growth trend was similar, regardless of the number of years studied. This suggests that the areal and diametric growth of small and mid-sized Rhizocarpon thalli may be insensitive to annual climatic variation and can be accurately characterized by repeat measurements taken over months rather than decades. Unlike diametric growth rate, change in thallus area and perimeter are statistically robust measures of growth in Rhizocarpon thalli. Our mean measurement accuracy was 99%. Measurement precision (reproducibility) was >95% (P>0·05) for thallus area and >96% for thallus perimeter. Our technique is tedious, but on flat rocks it can resolve and accurately measure change in thallus morphology at the sub-millimeter scale, and it can be used with recent and/or historical images.

Several epiphytic specimens of the genus Leptogium (Ach.) Gray with a foliose thallus and numerous marginal and laminal isidia collected in central and southern Spain, and previously identified as Leptogium magnussonii Degel. & P. M. Jørg., varied considerably. Two morphological forms have been differentiated: one with clusters of granulose or coralloid, aggregated isidia, identified as typical L. magnussonii and the other with clavate to dactyliform isidia as in L. subaridum P. M. Jørg. & Goward. Meanwhile, when studying the lichen L. lichenoides from some European herbaria, three epiphytic specimens belonging to L. subaridum, one from Morocco, one from Italy and the other from Greece, were identified. These new records of the latter species extend its distribution from NW America to S Europe and N Africa. In addition, mature apothecia are reported for the first time. We briefly characterize the species based on material from the new localities using the morphological and anatomical terminology proposed in Jørgensen (1994).

Fuscopannaria leucosticta is a rare and understudied cyanolichen with an interesting and unusual distribution in tertiary relict hotspots worldwide. There is a relatively large population in eastern North America, where it occurs mostly throughout the Appalachian Mountains and reaches its northernmost extent in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. The ability to detect this species, and thus determine its habitat requirements, is critical for understanding how it might be affected by human-induced environmental degradation. Maximum entropy modelling with MaxEnt was used to predict the distribution of suitable habitat for this species in Nova Scotia using 62 presence locations, 1405 pseudo-absence locations and four environmental covariates: depth to water table (a proxy for relative soil moisture), distance to the coast and mean annual temperature and precipitation. Our predictive maps identify important habitat features and areas of high suitability in Nova Scotia with an area under the curve value of 0·85. The predicted distribution of this lichen was most affected by temperature. This study elucidates locations as well as species-habitat relationships for F. leucosticta, providing land managers with baseline data that can aid in the discovery of additional populations and provide a better understanding of its ecological requirements which will support the development of sound conservation strategies for this rare lichen.

Sixty-two samples of Asahinea chrysantha from different localities in the Soviet Union were analysed by TLC. Three different chemotypes are recognised, each with a different geographical distribution. The most restricted of the three is an usnic acid deficient chemotype (I), with atranorin, alectoronic and α-collatolic acids, which is chemically the same as A. scholanderi and A. kurodakensis. Chemotype II contains usnic acid in addition to the basic chemistry, and chemotype III is α-collatolic acid deficient and has the widest geographical range. A centre of speciation of Asahinea in Soviet Primorje or Japan is proposed.

Micarea subalpina sp. nov. is described from plant detritus in subalpine forest parkland in the mountains of western Montana (USA). It has similarities to M. assimilata and M. erratica.

The evolution of multicellularity paved the way for significant increases in biological complexity. Although multicellularity has evolved many times independently, we know relatively little about its origins. Directed evolution is a promising approach to studying early steps in this major transition, but current experimental systems have examined only a subset of the possible evolutionary routes to multicellularity. Here we consider egalitarian routes to multicellularity, in which unrelated unicellular organisms evolve to become a multicellular organism. Inspired by microbial syntrophies and lichens, we outline three such routes from a system of different species to an interdependent relationship that replicates. We compare these routes to contemporary experimental systems and consider how physical structure, the threat of invasion, division of labour and co-transmission affect their evolution.