The genus Lecidea in the lichen flora of the gypsum soils of Spainis represented b two species: L. gypsicola Llimona and L. circinarioides Casares & Hafellner sp. nov., which are described in this article. Chemical, anatomical and ecological differences are also described, as is the taxonomic value of the morphological characteristics of the mature ascoma.

The spatial distribution of corticolous lichens was studied along Big Seven Mile Creek (Cabell County, West Virginia, U.S.A.), a small stream that was periodically inundated by floodwaters carrying heavy loads of sediment. Lichen communities located at 0, 1.0 and 1.5 km from the confluence with the Ohio River were compared using step-wise discriminant analysis, a multivariate technique. Of the physical factors tested, the results indicated that the sediment on the tree boles was the most important factor separating the three stations and bole heights. Species richness was established to be an important mensurational variable separating stations, bole heights, and parallel and perpendicular transects. Changes observed in lichen community structure are assumed to have resulted from microclimatic variation brought about primarily by sedimentation associated with flooding. Failure of the physical factors and biotic variables to separate tree bole aspects (faces of boles in respect to the stream) indicate that abrasion and current-induced exfoliation are not important factors affecting lichen communities in the study area. Corticolous lichens occurring along streams subject to periodic inundation may represent a useful indicator in studies of flooding, water quality, and/or sedimentation in watersheds.

Lecania fructigena has been found in western Europe. This species, previously known only from western North America and north-western Mexico, is described and compared with related species. It is easily overlooked for L. aipospila. Lecania sampaiana is a synonym of L. aipospila.

A taxonomic investigation of Lethariella smithii and L. zahlbruckneri has established that they are conspecific. Three chemical races are recognized: race 1 containing norstictic acid, race 2 norstictic acid and placodiolic acid, and race 3 placodiolic acid as major medullary substances.

A collection of lichens made in 1998 (by WQ) from the bark of Austrocedrus chilensis at a locality in southern Chile, disclosed two species of Pannaria not hitherto recorded from the Chilean lichen mycobiota (Galloway & Quilhot 1999): (1) the pantemperate taxon Pannaria conoplea (Ach.) Bory, which is widespread in the Northern Hemisphere as well as having rare outliers in East Africa, Venezuela, Ecuador and Australia (see Jørgensen 1978; Swinscow & Krog 1988; Jørgensen & Galloway 1992; Jørgensen & Arvidsson 2004), and (2) Pannaria tavaresii P. M. Jørg., known earlier from North America (including Mexico and Jamaica), Portugal, Macaronesia (Jørgensen 1978), Australia (Jørgensen & Galloway 1992), Sardinia and Italy (Nimis 1993) and previously collected in 1986 from near Valdivia in Chile. The discovery of Pannaria conoplea and P. tavaresii in Chile adds to the known Pannaria mycobiota of Chile (Galloway & Quilhot 1999), bringing the total number of species of this genus in Chile to 23. Eleven taxa formerly placed in Psoroma, are now correctly accommodated in Pannaria (see Jørgensen 2001b; Elvebakk & Galloway 2003; Jørgensen & Sipman 2004; Passo et al. 2004). Both Pannaria conoplea and P. tavaresii are within the currently accepted circumscription of Pannaria (Jørgensen 1994, 2004a, 2004b). Descriptions of the Chilean material are given below.

The manna lichens, a group of vagrant species with subfruticose and subfoliose thalli in the genus Circinaria Link, have received attention for millennia. Here, a new manna lichen species, Circinaria nimisii sp. nov. (Megasporaceae), is described and illustrated. This vagrant lichen is found on Mount Olympus in Greece and is the fourth known manna lichen in Europe. The new taxon is characterized by its subfruticose, densely-branched thallus with a muddy, earthy colour, whitish pseudocyphellae on tips of branches, mature apothecia distinctly adnate to stipitate, and paraplectenchymatous cortex tissue. Molecular sequence data from the standard barcoding marker (nrITS) also corroborate the distinction of this species from closely related congeners. Finally, Agrestia zerovii, previously known only from its type locality in Ukraine, is proposed as a new synonym of Circinaria hispida.

An increasing number of studies are describing the diversity of lichen phycobionts, which is leading to a better understanding of how lichen communities are assembled at different taxonomic, evolutionary and geographical scales. The present study explores the identity and genetic diversity of the microalgal partners of Punctelia borreri and P. subrudecta, two tropical and temperate parmelioid lichen fungi that often grow in temperate and Mediterranean forest ecosystems in Europe. Based on a specimen sampling distributed in two climatically divergent regions in the Iberian Peninsula, we found that these mycobionts are associated with Trebouxia gelatinosa, whose identity was also confirmed by an ultrastructural study of the pyrenoid. The bipartite network analysis indicated that each Punctelia species was associated with a different set of low frequency T. gelatinosa infraspecific lineages, whereas the two most abundant phycobiont lineages were shared between both mycobionts. Based on the current sampling, these two algal lineages occur exclusively in one of the two studied regions, which might point towards climate-driven, fine-tuned fungal-algal interactions. Finally, we documented visible symptoms of injury on the thalli in areas likely to have been impacted by air pollution.

A new species, Chrysothrix septemseptata, is described from India. It is characterized by 7-septate ascospores, which is unique within the genus. It is currently known only from the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve, where it grows in mangrove plantations.

Hyalopyrenia japonica Harada (lichenized Ascomycotina) is described as new genus on the basis of a specimen from friable rock in forests in Chiba-ken, central Japan. It is characterized by a poorly developed crustose thallus, a Trentepohlia phycobiont, immersed perithecia with hyaline walls, simple paraphyses and periphyses, non-amyloid bitunicate asci with an ocular chamber, and transversely septate hyaline spores. Hyalopyrenia is monotypic, and its taxonomic position is uncertain.

The new species Aspicilia malvinae is described from the Falkland Islands. It is the first species of Megasporaceae to be discovered on the islands and only the seventh to be reported from South America. It is distinguished from other species of Aspicilia by the unusual secondary metabolite chemistry (hypostictic acid) and molecular sequence data. The collections of the new species support two lichenicolous fungi: Endococcus propinquus s. lat., which is new to the Falkland Islands, and a new species of Sagediopsis with small perithecia and 3-septate ascospores c. 18–20 × 4–5 μm, which is described here as S. epimalvinae. A total of 60 new DNA sequences obtained from species of Megasporaceae (mostly Aspicilia) are also introduced.