Strigula confusa Fryday, Coppins & Common is described from the western British Isles, where it grows over bryophytes on mildly basic rocks. The concept of the genus Thelenella is expanded to include Chromatochlamys and the following new combinations are made: Thelenella larbalestieri (A. L. Sm.) Coppins & Fryday, Thelenella muscorum var. octospora (Nyl.) Coppins & Fryday, Thelenella vezdae (H. Mayrhofer & Poelt) Coppins & Fryday. Thelenella sordidula (Th. Fr.) H. Mayrhofer is reported for the first time from Europe (Svalbard).

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 new species, Menegazzia jamesii Louwhoff & Kantvilas from Victoria and Tasmania, closely related to M. pertransita (Stirt.) R. Sant., is described. Chemical and nomenclatural notes on M. caliginosa P. James & D. J. Galloway and M. pertransita are provided, and the new combination, M. stirtonii (Zahlbr.) Kantvilas & Louwhoff, is proposed. The name M. weindorferi (Zahlbr.) R. Sant., widely applied in Australian literature, is considered synonymous with M. pertransita, whereas M. bullata (Stirt.) Bitter is considered a synonym of M. stirtonii.

The new species, Solenopsora tasmanica Kantvilas, is described and its distinguishing characteristics are discussed. The new species is the first record for the genus for Tasmania and occurs on montane, acidic soils, an unusual habitat for Solenopsora. It also contains the compounds brialmontin 1 and brialmontin 2, recorded from Solenopsora for the first time.

Illustrated descriptions are provided for four new lichen species found in The Seychelles: Arthothelium feuereri Aptroot & Seaward, Dimerella straminea Aptroot & Seaward, D. subsquamosa Aptroot & Seaward and Fellhanera silhouettae Aptroot & Seaward.

Molecular sequence data of the nuclear ITS region was used to investigate the diversity of photobionts in Polish samples of Flavocetraria nivalis. The samples came both from alpine habitats, as well as from lowland localities near the coast. All green algal symbionts were identified as members of the Trebouxia simplex aggregate. These were compared with those of additional samples from Flavocetraria nivalis collected in different parts of Europe and also with photobionts assigned to T. simplex from other lichens. Within the T. simplex aggregate, the Trebouxia ITS sequences from F. nivalis formed four clades. In the Polish lowland populations only a single clade of T. simplex was detected which also occurs in Polish mountains, south Sweden and Austria. A further clade of T. simplex is present in F. nivalis from Polish mountains and is also known from F. nivalis further north in Scandinavia and Greenland, as well as from other lichens in Sweden, the Austrian Alps, and Antarctica.

Two shade-adapted (Lobaria pulmonaria and Cetraria islandica) and two sun-adapted lichen populations (Xanthoria parietina and Cetraria nivalis) were exposed to three irradiance regimes (1: photosynthetic radiation—PAR, 2: PAR+UV-A, 3: PAR+UV-A+UV-B) and two hydration regimes (1: no hydration, 2: daily hydration) in a growth cabinet for three weeks. Shade-adapted thalli had transparent upper cortices without coloured pigments, whereas sun-adapted thalli had coloured UV-B absorbing cortical pigments masking the photobiont. Manipulation of pigment concentration was the third factor used in the factorial design (1: pigments intact, 2: pigments non-destructively extracted from air-dry living thalli by acetone). Inhibition of the photobiont due to PAR alone was severe in the two shade-adapted populations, but no applied UV wavelength bands caused additional aggravation of photoinhibition. Shade-adapted thalli of the ubiquitous C. islandica were more PAR-susceptible than of the rare old forest lichen L. pulmonaria, suggesting that screening by the mycobiont rather than photobiont characteristics, account for their different success in sun-exposed localities. Hydration of shade-adapted species during exposure reduced their photoinhibition substantially, probably because of moisture-activated repair mechanisms. On the contrary, the sun-adapted X. parietina was most phototolerant in the desiccated state, whereas hydration caused increased photoinhibition. When removing the orange cortical pigment parietin, the photoinhibition in moist thalli was aggravated, confirming a PAR-protective function of parietin. No effects of irradiance treatment, pigment extraction (usnic acid), or hydration level were observed in C. nivalis.

Each reference is numbered progressively and is characterized by publication details, a brief abstract and one or more abbreviations referring to specific themes. The list is followed by an Analytical Index of the different themes, showing the numbers corresponding to the appropriate references in the Bibliographic list. A new topic (RV) has been introduced to identify the review articles.

A small number of lichens produce ephemeral fruit bodies that last for less than a year, they belong to genera such as Absconditella, Epigloea, Sarcosagium, Steinia, Thelocarpon and Vezdaea. Many are found in transient, terricolous, often man-made habitats and niches where competition is low. Poelt and Vežda (1990) have reviewed the sparse literature on ephemeral lichens. Since then, a two year study of Thelocarpon laureri in the Sheffield area (Gilbert 2001), has shown this species behaving as a spring ephemerophyte, the number of fruits peaking in April and May. Colonies persisted for 18 months (two fruiting periods). This short paper extends such observations to Sarcosagium campestre.

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).

Collembola are terrestrial arthropods that prefer humid environments, probably because their relatively thin chitinous carapace is vulnerable to dehydration. They feed primarily on algae, but certain Collembola may feed on lichens (Leinaas & Somme 1984). They are often found in lichen samples, but the lichens involved do not generally appear to be damaged. Microclimatic conditions within lichens may favour occupation by Collembola as the humidity in the interior of foliose lichen thalli may be relatively high compared to that of the surroundings (Prinzig & Wirtz 1997).

In a recent article (Lange & Wagenitz 2003) we analysed the variation and historical changes in the meaning of the old lichenological term ‘phycolichen’. We came to the conclusion that the word is not suited for use as a name for green algal lichens because of the considerable ambiguity generated by its previous usage. Instead we recommended the name ‘chlorolichen’, a term that appeared to have been used rarely in the lichenological literature; we found it only in publications by Sillett & Goslin (1999) and Ellyson & Sillett (2003). At the time we were not able to determine its origin but this puzzle has, in the meantime, been solved. It was Vernon Ahmadjian who introduced this word as a counterpart for cyanolichens (V. Ahmadjian in litt). He first used the term in 1989 when he wrote “… enough species of lichens with green photobionts (chlorolichens) have been synthesized …” (p. 29), and he also applied the term in his book ‘The Lichen Symbiosis’ (Ahmadjian 1993: 123). Thus, it is to the credit and innovation of Vernon Ahmadjian that we have available the short forms ‘chlorolichens’ and ‘cyanolichens’ for the two functional groups of lichens with either green algae or with cyanobacteria, respectively, as their main photobionts.