We used a genetic distance approach in conjunction with molecular phylogeny to establish species boundaries and detect cryptic lineages in the Parmotrema reticulatum – P. pseudoreticulatum complex. The phylogeny of specimens from a broad geographic distribution was reconstructed from the internal transcribed spacer region. Pairwise genetic distances were calculated and compared to an intraspecific range defined for the parmelioid lichens to circumscribe species-level groups. Our results showed that P. reticulatum and P. pseudoreticulatum are polyphyletic, being comprised of at least seven well-supported lineages. In contrast, the genetic distance approach revealed ten cryptic lineages within the P. reticulatum – P. pseudoreticulatum complex. Neither morphology nor geography was conclusive in attempting to corroborate these genetic lineages. However FST indices suggest significant genetic differentiation between these lineages. Our results suggest that the morphology-based circumscriptions underestimated species in Parmotrema and that, in some cases, genetic distances may be used as an additional tool to determine species boundaries in morphologically cryptic species complexes. The most significant contribution of the present study is the application of a fast and accurate method to identify problematic groups and candidate species using the ITS locus with a genetic distances approach.

Two new corticolous lichen species are described, Lepraria nothofagi Elix & Kukwa (atranorin, strepsilin, porphyrilic acid) from Argentina and L. stephaniana Elix, Flakus & Kukwa (4-O-methylleprolomin, zeorin, salazinic acid, unknown terpenoid) from pre-Andean Amazon forest of Bolivia. In addition, the paper presents new records of 16 species of Lepraria from South America. Lepraria adhaerens, and L. diffusa are new to the Southern Hemisphere; L. borealis is new to South America; L. alpina is new to Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela; L. caesioalba (chemotype I) is new to Venezuela, L. lobificans new to Argentina, L. pallida new to Peru, and L. sipmaniana new to Bolivia and Chile. The Chilean records of L. membranacea appeared to belong to L. sipmaniana. Therefore, the number of Lepraria spp. known at present from South America is enlarged to 27 species. 4-O-methylleprolomin is reported for the second time from lichens.

The new lichenicolous fungus Llimoniella cinnabarinae growing on Ramboldia cinnabarina from Alaska is described. The lack of excipular or epihymenial K+ purplish, violet or green pigments places it near the recently described L. phaeophysciae group. Its affinity with Llimoniella and other members of lichenicolous Helotiales is discussed.

Hemithecium isidiatum from the Eastern Himalayas is described as new to science. It is the first isidiate species in the genus Hemithecium and is otherwise characterized by hyaline muriform ascospores and the presence of salazinic acid.

This study compares the success of vegetative diaspore establishment of the old forest lichens Lobaria pulmonaria and L. scrobiculata sown on Picea abies branches in boreal rainforests. The larger diaspores of L. pulmonaria (green algal photobiont) established more successfully, and showed a greater flexibility in ecological amplitude, than the smaller diaspores of L. scrobiculata (cyanobacterial photobiont). The establishment success apparently depended on species-specific differences in morphological and physiological traits of the diaspores. Both species established as well in young plantations as in old forests. Lobaria scrobiculata was most successful on short branches and small trees. In contrast, L. pulmonaria responded positively to trunk circumference in the old stands. The establishment success of both species decreases with increasing canopy openness, indicating that the soredia/isidioid soredia failed to establish on the most exposed branches. The probability of establishment did not change with bark-pH or with distance from the nearest stream. Despite a successful establishment in regeneration forests, the long-term survival in managed forests is still uncertain.

An unusual dark blue-green lichen, Lecanora sierrae, was discovered over 30 years ago by Czehura near copper mines in the Lights Creek District, Plumas County, Northern California. Using atomic absorption spectroscopy, Czehura found that dark green lichen samples from Warren Canyon contained 4% Cu in ash and suggested that its colour was due to copper accumulation in the cortex. The present study addressed the hypothesis that the green colour in similar material we sampled from Warren Canyon in 2008, is caused by copper localization in the thallus. Optical microscopy and electron microprobe analysis of specimens of L. sierrae confirmed that copper localization took place in the cortex. Elemental analyses of L. sierrae and three other species from the same localities showed high enrichments of copper and selenium, suggesting that copper selenates or selenites might occur in these lichens and be responsible for the unusual colour.

The recently described genus Vahliella (Peltigerales, Ascomycetes) has repeatedly appeared outside the Pannariaceae in molecular phylogenies. Here we include data from additional species of the genus and utilize mtSSU rDNA and RPB1 sequences to confirm its placement as the sister to a group consisting of Lobariaceae, Massalongiaceae, Nephromataceae and Peltigeraceae, in the Peltigerales. The new family Vahliellaceae Wedin, P. M. Jørg. & S. Ekman is described for the genus, and its morphological characteristics are briefly discussed.

Recently, the number of cryptic species known has increased considerably, showing that species diversity has in many cases been underestimated in the past. Parmelia sulcata is a widely distributed species and one of the most common taxa in temperate Europe. The first intra-specific molecular studies on P. sulcata showed an unexpectedly high genetic variability. In the present work, we study the biodiversity of this taxon including specimens from four continents and using three molecular markers (nuITS, nuIGS rDNA, and partial β-tubulin gene). Two monophyletic groups of P. sulcata were encountered; one of these is epitypified as P. sulcata s. str and the other one is segregated as the new cryptic species P. encryptata sp. nov. Issues surrounding the lectotypification of Parmelia sulcata have also been elucidated.

Population genetic studies of lichen-forming fungi and their algae require appropriate sampling schemes that ensure representative sampling of the genetic variability. One question is whether mycobiont and photobiont populations require different sampling strategies. Here, I applied rarefaction methods to a dataset containing three microsatellite loci of Lobaria pulmonaria and three microsatellite loci of its green-algal photobiont, Dictyochloropsis reticulata. I analysed the sample sizes required for 1) the number of individuals per population, 2) the number of individuals required across a landscape and 3) the number of populations. The analyses were performed separately for the mycobiont and photobiont loci to detect any differences in the accumulation of genetic diversity among the symbionts that would require different sampling schemes. About 20 individuals were sufficient at the population level; within landscapes, 300–400 samples and about 25–30 populations covered most of the allelic diversity. The results indicated that a slightly higher sampling effort was required for the photobiont than for the mycobiont. The optimal sampling strategy strongly depends on the research question, the spatial scale of investigation, and the type of analysis to be performed with the data.

To date, there have only been two endemic species of the lichen genus Porpidia known from the maritime Antarctic. A new endemic species, Porpidia submelinodes Osyczka & Olech, recognized in the South Shetlands and South Orkneys, is described in this paper. The species is primarily characterized by its rusty orange, sorediate thallus, composed of convex, well separated and rounded areoles, and by the absence of lichen secondary products detectable by TLC. The morphology and soralia of this new species correspond to the arctic-alpine and boreal-mountain lichen Porpidia melinodes. The paper also discusses the differences between these two taxa and all Porpidia species reported from Antarctica.

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.

A brief discussion of the Encyclopedia of Life and the LifeDesks websites as a means to assemble and publish species pages and taxonomic information on the internet, for both the scientific community and the public, is provided. The lichen family Parmeliaceae is the first large group of lichenized fungi for which a concerted effort is currently being undertaken to produce substantial content for the EOL.

Wooded meadows with a history of traditional land use over thousands of years support a great diversity of various taxa. Today, however, high-species-rich communities in wooded meadows are threatened because of the cessation of traditional management in large areas. We studied lichen communities on 136 deciduous trees (Betula spp., Fraxinus excelsior and Quercus robur) in 12 wooded meadows in three regions of Estonia, and assessed the effect of habitat change due to the abandonment of traditional management on epiphytic lichen species composition, considering factors on three spatial scales: regional, habitat and individual tree. The variation partitioning approach in partial Canonical Correspondence Analysis (pCCA) revealed that most of the variation in species composition is described by the species of host tree and tree bark pH. Other tree level variables, foremost tree diameter, described as much of the compositional variation as geographic location (region) or environmental conditions in wooded meadows. Of the environmental factors studied, woodland canopy cover is the strongest predictor of the change in epiphytic lichen species composition from the community type of semi-open wooded meadows to species-poor communities characteristic of secondary forest. General Linear Model (GLM) analysis of the abundance of the 35 most frequently observed lichen species revealed that more than half of them (21) are influenced by site openness (canopy cover and/or undergrowth density), showing that increasing canopy cover has a negative effect on the abundance of epiphytic lichen species characteristic of traditionally managed semi-open wooded meadows. The results emphasize that the preservation of large old deciduous trees of various species and the maintenance of the semi-open structure of stands are vitally important for the protection of epiphytic lichen communities in wooded meadows.

Parmelina tiliacea is a common, widely distributed species in south-western Europe, easily identifiable by morphology and much used as an air pollution bioindicator in many regions. A molecular phylogenetic survey of samples from many geographical areas, using Maximum Parsimony and Bayesian inference of nuITS and mtLSU rDNA regions, revealed a group of samples geographically restricted to a small region of the Iberian Peninsula and genetically separated from the other P. tiliacea specimens studied. These samples are morphologically indistinguishable from P. tiliacea, apart from subtle anatomical characters in the ascomata (hyphae of the exciple and ascospore width), which are frequently absent. Although geographically different, the two taxa occupy similar habitats and are even sympatric in some areas, indicating that they do not exchange genetic material. This previously overlooked, and apparently endemic lineage, is described as P. cryptotiliacea sp. nov., and the name Lichen tiliaceus is epitypified by a sequenced specimen to fix the application of Parmelina tiliacea to the widespread genotype. A second unexpected result was the discovery that the morphologically distinct P. pastillifera was nested within P. tiliacea. These two cases stress the need to use molecular tools to elucidate species concepts even within widespread morphologically well-characterized macrolichens. Such investigations are necessary to improve our understanding and estimation of biodiversity, and to facilitate the development of sound biodiversity conservation strategies for lichens.