The following new species of Parmeliaceae are described from Africa: Xanthoparmelia bainskloofensis Elix & T. H. Nash, X. boyeri Elix, X. dubitella Elix, X. kleinswartbergensis Elix, X. lobuliferella Elix, X. malawiensis Elix, X. micromaculata Elix and X. waboomsbergensis Elix. The new combination Xanthoparmelia patula (Brusse) Elix is made and X. hypoleiella Elix, X. neoconspersa (Gyeln.) Hale, X. neocumberlandia T. H. Nash & Elix and X. sipmanii T. H. Nash & Elix are reported from Africa for the first time.

The value of 19 epiphytic lichen species as air pollution indicators was tested in the Khamar-Daban mountain range in east Siberia. Frequency of occurrence of a species was used as the indicator characteristic. Altitude and distance from the pollution source were considered as environmental factors. The methodology of fitting log-linear models to contingency tables with presence/absence (frequency) scale as an additional dimension is presented. The significance of changes in species frequency is studied by examining the significance of the model parameters, which account for interactions of the environmental factors with the ‘frequency factor’. Only two species, Parmelia caperata and P. olivacea, were found to be good pollution indicators in that they showed a uniform monotonic (unidirectional) response to the factor of distance at all altitudes. The frequency of 12 species changed significantly and monotonically with distance in one or two altitudinal zones.

The lichen family Umbilicariaceae is accepted by most lichenologists as consisting of two genera, Lasallia and Umbilicaria. The monophyly of these two genera was examined by phylogenetic analyses of nucleotide sequences of ITS 1 and ITS2 rDNA. Sequences of these regions from three Lasallia and 17 Umbilicaria species were aligned to those of seven representatives of the outgroup taxa including Eurotiales, Onygenales and Caliciales (Mycocaliciaceae) and subjected to maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and neighbour-joining analyses. The resulting phylogenetic hypotheses supported the monophyly of the representative species of Lasallia. However, the species of Umbilicaria did not form a monophyletic sistergroup to Lasallia due to the basal placement of other Umbilicaria species in some analyses. Based on these analyses, if Lasallia is recognized as a separate genus then Umbilicaria appears to be paraphyletic. Although further taxon sampling is required to resolve the monophyly of Umbilicaria, for the present we recommend retaining the current treatment of Lasallia as separate from Umbilicaria.

Lecanora inaurata, a corticolous member of the L. subfusca group, is described as new to science. This species is characterized by typically epruinose, reddish brown apothecial discs, a chlarotera-type epihymenium, pulicaris-type amphithecium, and chloroatranorin and zeorin as major constituents, often with accessory calycin in the thalline margins of the apothecia, imparting a distinctive yellow halo appearance when present in sufficient concentrations. Lecanora inaurata occurs in open hardwood-dominated woodlands of the Edwards Plateau and grasslands of the southern Great Plains in Oklahoma and Texas.

Graphis parvicarpa and Pallidogramme bengalense are described as new to science from India. Graphis parvicarpa is characterized by a striate excipulum, inspersed hymenium, muriform ascospores, and norstictic acid in the thallus. Pallidogramme bengalense is characterized by a striate exciple, muriform, hyaline to pale brown ascospores, inspersed hymenium and no lichen substances in the thallus.

Complete chromosomal-level assemblies of fungal genomes are rare. The intimate ecological symbioses and complex reproduction strategies utilized by fungi make highly contiguous, gapless genome assemblies particularly difficult. Here, we use long-read sequencing on the Oxford Nanopore Technology MinION platform to sequence and assemble the genome of Lepraria neglecta (Ascomycota, Lecanorales). In addition to eight contigs ascribable to chromosomes, six of which are assembled telomere-to-telomere, we discovered the presence of a complete MAT locus with two conserved MAT1-2 genes and a putative MAT1-1 pseudogene. The full genome assembly of a widespread, common species presents an opportunity for new insights into lichen reproduction while the presence of the mating-type locus in the genome of an asexual lichen raises fundamental questions about reproductive biology in fungi generally.

A new lichen species, Pyrenula darjeelingensis (Pyrenulaceae), is described from the Eastern Himalayan region of India. It is characterized by having 5-septate to submuriform ascospores with papillate apices and the terminal lumina mostly not separated from the exospore by an endospore layer. Six additional species of Pyrenula are reported for the first time from India: P. acutalis R. C. Harris, P. dermatodes (Borrer) Schaer., P. mastophoroides (Nyl.) Zahlbr., P. mucosa (Vain.) R. C. Harris, P. subelliptica (Tuck.) R. C. Harris and P. thelemorpha Tuck.

The new species Eugeniella nigrodisca is described from Fazenda Cafuz, Serra de Itabaiana, Sergipe, NE Brazil, where it was found on bark. It is characterized by the clavate, consistently 7-septate ascospores.

Pertusaria aceroae and Pertusaria calderae from the Canary Islands are described as new to science. A description of each species is given together with notes on their chemistry, distribution, ecology and taxonomy. Related lichen taxa are discussed.

Jørgensen & James (1983) in their detailed study of the Leptogium azureum group in western Europe, pointed out that L. azureum (Swartz) Mont. was absent from Europe and that most of the European material so named belongs to L. cochleatum (Dicks.) P. M. Jørg. & P. James. Although both species show some morphological similarity, they also show a great number of differences. Leptogium cochleatum develops a darker and thicker thallus than L. azureum, with a finely striate upper surface, a different arrangement of the photobiont in the thallus, apothecia with persistent±wrinkled margins, proper euparaplectenchymatous exciples, the presence of paraplectenchymatous tissue at the base of apothecia and muriform ascospores which are larger than in L. azureum. For a summary of the most important characters distinguishing these two species see Jørgensen & James (1983). Leptogium valdivianum M. Lindström, a species from cool temperate South America, has also been confused with L. azureum, however, it can be distinguished by its distinctly thicker and dark leaden grey­blue thallus, apothecia with persistent thalline margins and its larger and broader distinctly muriform ascospores (Galloway & Jørgensen 1995; Lindström 1996).

Myeloconis P. M. McCarthy & Elix gen. nov. is described from the Neotropics and the eastern Paleotropics. Four new species, M. erumpens, M. fecunda, M. guyanenis and M. parva, are recognized. The genus is characterized by a medulla containing previously unknown yellow or orange pigments and perithecioid ascomata with a dark, dense, almost pseudostromatal wall, a basally anastomosing, but otherwise free, hamathecium, uniformly thin-walled asci and elongate, muriform ascospores. While its affinities are uncertain, the ascomata and their contents suggest a rather close relationship with Porina Müll. Arg. and ClathroporinaMüll. Arg. (Trichotheliaceae).

The lichen flora of a very small, but outstandingly rich, outcrop of limestone and epidiorite at 1030 m in the Ben Alder range is described. One hundred and six calcicolous species were encountered, many of which are rare nationally; eight are not known elsewhere in Britain. The site is compared with other calcareous mountains in Scotland and possible reasons for its distinctive lichen flora are suggested.

FT-Raman spectra have been obtained from the highly pigmented lichen Cryptothecia rubrocincta from a Brazilian vestigial rainforest habitat. Spectral signatures of the two main lichen substances, chiodectonic acid and confluentic acid, were identified in adjacent zones of the thallus. Of the characteristic zonal colours displayed by the thallus, the outer red zone contained chiodectonic acid and no calcium oxalate, and graded into by a pink zone with calcium oxalate monohydrate (whewellite) in association with chiodectonic acid, to the inside of which is a concentric white zone containing calcium oxalate dihydrate (weddellite); however, chemically differentiated sites (elliptical brown flecks with a major axis of c. 15 μm) in both the pink and red zones contained chiodectonic acid and calcium oxalate monohydrate. The role of Raman spectroscopy in the spatial identification of lichen substances in the thallial structures is demonstrated.

The new genus, Cameronia Kantvilas, is described and illustrated. It is characterized by a crustose thallus, a chlorococcalean photobiont, deeply immersed perithecioid ascomata, four-spored asci with an intensely hemiamyloid outer wall and non-amyloid, well-developed tholus, and hyaline, muriform ascospores. The taxonomic position of the new genus is uncertain although a relationship with the Ostropomycetidae is likely. Two species, both endemic to the highlands of Tasmania, are described: C. pertusarioides Kantvilas, which is one of the most common lichens on dolerite in alpine Tasmania, and C. tecta Kantvilas, which is confined to metamorphosed sediments.