A novel lichen species occurring on rocks was collected from three different localities within Deosai National Park, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Phylogenetic analyses of the nrDNA ITS and nuLSU regions revealed that it clustered within the genus Anamylopsora. Further chemical and morpho-anatomical analyses confirmed its uniqueness, and it is described here as a new species under the name A. pakistanica. The distinguishing characters are: an irregularly squamulose appressed thallus on rocks without rhizines; an epinecral layer up to 25 μm thick; ascospores that are hyaline, simple, thick-walled with a smooth surface; septate paraphyses with a pigmented apical cell in a gel-like matrix; globose to subglobose pycnidia with hyaline and bacilliform pycnidiospores. In particular, the species is distinguished from other members of the genus by morpho-anatomical features including the coloration of the thalli, the presence of a thick lower cortex (up to 100 μm), and the presence of simple, thick-walled ascospores. Specimens were found at altitudes up to 4587 m, the highest elevation yet reported for Anamylopsora. A key and comparison to all existing species of the genus Anamylopsora is also given.

Four species of Porpidia are newly reported from China, including one species new to science (Porpidia crystallina) and three records (Porpidia umbonifera, P. seakensis and P. cf. contraponenda) new to China. Porpidia crystallina is characterized by a macrocarpa-type exciple containing crystals, a Cinereorufa-green epihymenium, large ascospores and a lack of secondary metabolites. Morpho-anatomical, chemical and phylogenetic analyses were carried out to elucidate the placement of the species and to support the delimitation of the new taxon. Detailed taxonomic descriptions, ecological and chemical characters, and illustrations are provided for each species. A key to all known Chinese Porpidia species is also provided.

The type species of Squamarina has two varieties, S. gypsacea var. gypsacea and S. gypsacea var. subcetrarioides. In this study, a phylogenetic and taxonomic analysis of these two varieties shows that S. var. subcetrarioides merits treatment as a species separate from S. gypsacea. Therefore, we raise this variety to species level as S. subcetrarioides (Zahlbr.) Y. Y. Zhang. Squamarina subcetrarioides is phylogenetically not closely related to S. gypsacea and differs from that species in the thallus forming rosettes when young, later becoming cracked and irregular in outline, and consisting of numerous small squamules.

A new lichen species, Lecanora zeorina Li J. Li & Printzen is described here from the south-west of China. Lecanora zeorina is characterized by its somewhat areolate-squamulose thallus, zeorine to lecanorine apothecia, an epihymenium without crystals around expanded paraphyses tips, an amphithecium with large calcium oxalate crystals and the production of atranorin. A new combination, Lecanora crystalliniformis (B.G. Lee & Hur) Li J. Li & Printzen, is based on Protoparmeliopsis crystalliniformis B.G. Lee & Hur, which was described as a new species from South Korea. Collections from China are almost identical in morphology and chemistry, and are phylogenetically closely related. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on ITS and mtSSU suggest that these two lecanoroid species belong in Lecanora s. str. where they form a sister group to sorediate species such as L. barkmaniana Aptroot & Herk and L. variolascens Nyl. Detailed descriptions, discussions, distributions and phylogenetic trees, based on multiple collections, are presented.

Hair lichens are distinctive for their capillary growth and typically arboreal occurrence, especially in temperate and boreal forests. They consist of two morphogroups based on cortical pigments: a brown-black group with fungal melanin and a pale yellow-green group with usnic acid. Here we test the hypothesis that these morphogroups are ecologically distinct and thus appropriately regarded as functional groups. We examine their respective horizontal occurrence in the lower canopy of 60-year-old conifer forests on a 250 m tall volcanic cone in south-central British Columbia. Trees on open south-facing slopes and near the summit were found to support mainly melanic hair lichens (Bryoria and Nodobryoria), whereas more densely spaced trees on north-facing slopes and at the base had higher cover values of usnic lichens (especially Alectoria sarmentosa and Ramalina thrausta). The cover of melanic hair lichens was strongly correlated with canopy openness but not for their usnic counterparts. We suggest that investment in light-absorbing melanic pigments is an extreme form of specialization for high light, favouring persistence in dry, sun-exposed canopies of otherwise cool forests. By contrast, the cortex of pendent usnic hair lichens appears to facilitate optimum light transmission to underlying photobionts in shaded sites, though at the cost of sensitivity to light in open habitats, especially in rather dry regions.

A novel species in the genus Squamulea, S. chikarensis, is described from Himalayan moist temperate forest in Pakistan. The morphology, chemistry and ITS sequences support its distinction from other species of this genus. The taxon is characterized by a pale green to yellow thallus, large apothecia up to 0.8–1.8 mm wide, pale yellow to yellow-orange apothecial discs, a hymenium 70–110 μm high, large ascospores (12–20 × 5–11 μm) and a narrow ascospore septum (1.5–3 μm). In addition, S. flakusii is reported as new to Pakistan and Eurasia.

This study re-examined the status of species of Diorygma Eshw. known from the Western Ghats using an integrative taxonomy approach that includes morphological and chemical data, as well as multigene phylogenetic analyses. Prior to this work, the two species D. karnatakense and D. dandeliense were distinguished primarily on lirellae morphology (branching pattern) and the number of ascospores per ascus. Our study of the morphology, chemistry and molecular phylogeny (mtSSU, LSU and RPB2) of freshly collected samples and re-examination of type material suggests that both names should be synonymized. Consequently, D. karnatakense is accepted as the correct name, with D. dandeliense as a newly proposed synonym. Phylogenetically, D. karnatakense is allied to D. antillarum and D. hieroglyphicum.

Microsatellite markers can provide valuable information about gene flow and population history. We developed and tested new microsatellites for the nitrophilic lichenized fungus Xanthoria parietina and studied its genetic diversity and structure within the urban area of Munich, Bavaria. We compared its local genetic pattern with that of its photobiont partner Trebouxia decolorans, for which existing microsatellites were applied. For comparison, a reference site with clean air was included in the sampling. We found support for three genetic clusters in the fungus X. parietina, which occurred intermingled in collecting sites. There was a high degree of admixture within fungal populations and individuals, and analysis of molecular variance revealed a lack of population structure in the mycobiont. The Trebouxia photobiont, in contrast, exhibited structured populations which grouped into two to five genetic clusters, and individuals showed less admixture than in the mycobiont. This indicates that the two lichen partners differ in their ability to move around in the landscape. The microsatellite markers we report are polymorphic and are suitable for population genetic studies.

The term ‘siphuloid’ is introduced for a suite of distinct lichen genera with a superficially similar foliose to fruticose morphology, notably Siphula, Siphulella, Siphulopsis, Parasiphula and Knightiellastrum. Three new species are described: Parasiphula squamosa Kantvilas (from Tasmania and New Zealand), characterized by a whitish grey, squamulose or minutely foliose thallus lacking lichen substances or containing traces of atranorin; Siphula capensis Kantvilas (from southern Africa), containing baeomycesic and squamatic acids, and characterized by robust, broadly flattened, rounded lobes with thickened apices; and S. crittendenii (from the Caribbean but with an outlying collection from Queensland, Australia), an epiphytic species containing thamnolic acid, with fragile, flattened lobes mostly to 10 mm long and 1−5 mm wide, with ragged or much-divided apices. Salient features of the species of Parasiphula are summarized and a first key for this genus is presented. Infrageneric problems in Siphula are also discussed briefly.

Clypeococcum wedinii, a pyrenocarpous ascomycete growing on the lichen genus Bunodophoron in Chile and New Zealand, is described as new to science. It differs from other Clypeococcum species in the combination of the following characteristics: a conspicuous gall formation, scattered, loose to dense stromatic growths sometimes looking like a clypeus, an ascomatal wall composed of both textura intricata and angularis in surface view, a non-amyloid hymenium, an absence of ostiolar filaments, 8-spored asci, and 1-septate ascospores arranged biseriately in the ascus. An updated key to the species of the lichenicolous genus Clypeococcum is provided.

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.

Three new species of Arthoniales are described from Cape Verde: Ingaderia dendritica, with ascomata formed of richly branched-dendroid lirellae and containing erythrin; Sparria caboverdensis, with small stroma-like ascomata and ascospores with 3–7 transverse septa; and Syncesia miesii, with an I− thallus, a tomentose hymenial disc, and a chemistry with fatty acids only. Phylogenetic analyses using nuLSU and RPB2 sequences reveal the placement of Fulvophyton sorediatum, Llimonaea occulta, L. sorediata and Sparria caboverdensis in the family Opegraphaceae. The genus Llimonaea is recovered as paraphyletic, with L. flexuosa being placed as sister species to a lineage including the genera Ingaderia and Paraingaderia. In consequence, an enlarged concept of the genus Ingaderia is proposed, resulting in the transfer of F. sorediatum, L. flexuosa, L. occulta, L. sorediata and Paraingaderia placodioidea to Ingaderia.

Two new species of the lichenized genus Lasioloma are described from Asia: Lasioloma longiramosum W. C. Wang & A. Abas (collected from Malaysia), is characterized by a distinct woolly prothallus between dispersed thallus patches, comparatively small, muriform ascospores, long filiform conidia (main branch 22–28 μm in length, the other three branches 65–80 μm) and a foliicolous habitat; L. verrucosum W. C. Wang & X. L. Wei (collected from China), is characterized by a warted thallus, filiform conidia (main branch 22–32 μm in length, the other three branches 50–65 μm) and a corticolous habitat. The placement of both new species was confirmed by a molecular phylogenetic approach based on combined ITS, mtSSU and mtLSU sequences, and both are compared in detail to other similar species of the genus. Our study also revealed that the length of the conidial branches, which has not been explored in previous studies, should be regarded as an important feature for species delimitation in Lasioloma.