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.

The following new species of Parmeliaceae are described from Rwanda: Hypotrachyna rwandensis Elix, Eb. Fischer & Killmann and Parmotrema afrocetratum Elix, Eb. Fischer & Killmann.

Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on nuclear ITS rDNA and mitochondrial SSU rDNA sequences from 32 specimens representing Parmotrema pseudoreticulatum, P. reticulatum and P. clavuliferum from Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe are reported. Samples from western Europe and South Africa formed an independent monophyletic group, which belongs to P. pseudoreticulatum, a species not accepted by some recent authors, that has only been reported from Portugal, Spain and Morocco. In contrast, P. reticulatum and P. clavuliferum, both widely distributed taxa, formed a monophyletic clade, supporting the synonymy already proposed on the basis of morphological features.

The paper deals with six species of Parmotrema from India. Parmotrema awasthii Divakar & Upreti and Parmotrema upretii Divakar are described as new to science. Parmotrema defectum (Hale) Hale, P. ravum (Krog & Swinscow) Sérus., P. stuhlmannii (C.W. Dodge) Krog & Swinscow and P. tsavoense (Krog & Swinscow) Krog & Swinscow, are new records for the Indian lichen flora.