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.

The sorediate variety of Sclerophytomyces circumscriptus (Taylor) Sparrius & P. James (Roccellaceae, Arthoniales) is described from sheltered, acid rock along Europe's western coasts and the Atlantic islands. This sorediate taxon is reported from the British Isles, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, the Azores and the Canary Islands. A description of the morphology, distribution and ecology is provided. The phylogenetic position of the new taxon is discussed, as well as nomenclatural and orthographic issues. The name Sclerophytomyces is proposed as an orthographic correction of the published name Sclerophytonomyces.

The phylogenetic position of the European crustose pioneer lichen Moelleropsis (Biatora) humida (Kullhem) Coppins & P. M. Jørg. is studied using partial sequences of the mitochondrial SSU and nuclear LSU rDNA of 64 ascomycetes, including sequences of all known species of Arctomiaceae. The analysis places M. humida in the Arctomiaceae with strong support as sister to the Tasmanian genus Wawea. The genus Arctomia is monophyletic and sister-group to the Wawea+Moelleropsis humida clade. The new genus Gregorella is described to accommodate Moelleropsis humida and the new combination Gregorella humida (Kullhem) Lumbsch is proposed. The ontogeny of the ascomata of Gregorella humida is similar to that of other Arctomiaceae, in that the generative tissue is formed on a thallus outgrowth. The Arctomiaceae did not cluster with the bulk of cyanobacterial lichens in the Lecanorales suborder Peltigerineae (or Peltigerales), but is part of Ostropomycetidae. The closest relative of Arctomiaceae could not be identified, since the relationships of major clades within Ostropomycetidae lacked support.

The lichenicolous hyphomycete Taeniolella diederichiana Etayo & Calatayud, is described from the Andes (Colombia and Peru) and the Canary Islands. It grows on the thallus and apothecial margin of Placopsis. It is characterized by forming minute sporodochia over a basal group of polyhedral cells, and by its conidia with a verruculose to verrucose-striate wall.

Descriptions are provided for two new species, Mycomicrothelia lateralis Sipman from Norfolk Island and M. triangularis Aptroot from Puerto Rico, both characterized by lateral ostioles and uniseriate ascospores. Based on the examination of additional fresh material, the genus Ornatopyrenis is included in Mycomicrothelia and the new combination Mycomicrothelia queenslandica (Müll. Arg.) Sipman & Aptroot is made. Ornatopyrenis muriformis Aptroot is proposed as a synonym of M. decipiens (Müll. Arg.) R. C. Harris.

Nimisia deusta, based on Parmelia enteromorpha var. deusta, is shown to be the correct name for the species currently known as N. fuegiae. Original material collected by J. D. Hooker in 1842, and collections made by Henry Imshaug between 1968 and 1971, have shown that the species is more widely distributed than previously reported, being known throughout the southern tip of South America (Argentina: Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Isla de los Estados; Chile: Cape Horn Islands; Falkland Islands), that it has a uniform secondary metabolite chemistry of fumarprotocetraric acid in the upper medulla (not lacking lichen substances as previously reported), and that it is not uniformly black but has a partly pale brown upper cortex.

Placopsis antarctica, which is apparently endemic to antarctic regions south of lat. 60°S (South Orkney Is, South Shetland Is and the Antarctic Peninsula), is described. Details of its morphology, anatomy, chemistry, ecology and distribution are given. Placopsis bicolor is newly reported from South Georgia. A revised key to species of Placopsis occurring in South Georgia and Antarctica is given.

Biogeochemical signatures were compared in ‘living’ and ‘dead’ Parmelia sulcata samples with their oak bark substratum. Eighteen elements reached maximum concentrations in ‘dead’ lichens, at lower concentrations than reported from industrial regions. High N concentrations in ‘dead’ lichens confirm exceedances of critical levels established for deciduous woodlands, supported by alien algae and ‘nitrophytic’ lichen colonization. Negative δ15N values recorded in lichen samples indicate N originated mainly from ammonia. Less negative δ15N values in healthy samples near busy roads suggest local NOx accumulation by Parmelia. Higher δ15N values in bark may result from different processes. Twenty-eight elements reach higher concentrations in healthy lichens near roads carrying higher traffic volumes. Thirteen elements correlate positively with lichen δ15N, suggesting that δ15N is a powerful indicator of the balance between agricultural and vehicular N influx. Maximum Ca and Sr concentrations recorded in bark and their spatial distribution suggest a local geological origin. High concentrations of Ga, Ba, Pb and Ni bark contents testify to a previous pollution legacy, including that from petrol which carried higher lead concentrations than today. Mn concentrations are higher than reported from other studies and show no clear relationship with local roads. Mn is known to limit lichen diversity and health in coniferous forests in US and Germany, but not yet in deciduous woodlands. Current atmospheric conditions and the former pollution legacy must be understood to conserve epiphytes and for biomonitoring.

Epiphytic lichens were sampled on selected trees in 19 sites radiating from Chiang Mai city including the adjacent mountain Doi Suthep in Northern Thailand using the VDI method (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure) to obtain frequency of occurrence in 10 area units per sampled tree. Sites selected included highly polluted sites in urban and adjacent industrial areas of Chiang Mai city, disturbed rural sites and undisturbed forest on Doi Suthep mountain, with altitudes varying from 260–1450 m. Lichen diversity was highest in upland sites and lowest in urban and agricultural sites. Analysis of lichen taxa at generic and at macrolichen species level and environmental data using PRIMER showed that upland and lowland sites were distinguished in the first division at both levels and correlated with altitude and vegetation type. Analysis of all taxa at generic level showed no separation of lowland sites but at macrolichen species level a better separation was obtained, suggesting that lichen diversity alone cannot be used for biomonitoring of air pollution. The relationship of epiphytic lichens to climate and pollution data available for Chiang Mai city and Doi Suthep is discussed and results compared with data from other studies in SE Asia.

Small clay cubes, fired at different temperatures and mounted with nylon touch and close fastener (Velcro®) on acrylic glass plates, were used in an experimental design to study colonization of artificial substrata by lichens. The cubes were exposed in alpine streams for either 5–7 y at five different sites in the Swiss Alps: Flüelatal (three sites) and Brigels (Canton of Graubünden), and Eggerberg (Canton of Valais). Only a few cubes were lost, except at two sites, where complete plates were lost – due to the strong water current and, probably, trampling by cattle. After 3 y, freshwater lichens had grown at three sites. At the most elevated site, colonization was observed after 4 y; at one site no lichen growth was recorded. The first colonizers of the new substrata were the locally most common species. Freshwater lichens preferred the surfaces of clay cubes fired at lower temperature, whereas exposed pieces of local rocks were less frequently colonized. Improvements in the experimental design are suggested.

Our close colleague for 30–40 years, the late Mason E. Hale Jr (1928–1990), was one of the most outstanding lichenologists of the 20th century. While he was terminally ill, he was anxious to complete his world monograph of Xanthoparmelia which he saw through to publication, and accepted 406 species (Hale 1990). Throughout the later periods of his career, his major aim was to document and describe the enormous extent of diversity in the graphidaceous and parmelioid lichens worldwide, and especially in the tropics where he travelled and collected extensively, describing numerous species new to science, 386 in parmelioid groups (Hale & DePriest 1999). In his later years he had, understandably, little time for the nuances of the Code, and, if the principle of adopting proposals for the protection of Names in Current Use (Greuter 1991) had been adopted this would have not caused problems. Sadly it was not, which means that some issues have to be reconsidered. One of these is the correct name for one of the commonest species of Xanthoparmelia, for which he used the name X. somloënsis in his monograph. During the last 15 years, many lichenologists have followed Hale in adopting X. somloënsis, but the nomenclaturally correct name for this species proves to be X. stenophylla.

Peltigera didactyla (With.) J. R. Laundon has a cosmopolitan distribution, but in the Antarctic it is very restricted and is nowhere common or abundant, occurring at a number of sites in the northern maritime Antarctic extending to 65°S (Øvstedal & Lewis-Smith, 2001). Within its Antarctic distribution it appears to be most frequent on Signy Island, South Orkney Islands. Typically, this species grows as small colonies amongst mosses in relatively dry, gravelly, sheltered habitats, forming aggregations of lobed sorediate thalli up to c. 10–15 (rarely to c. 25) cm diameter.

The map of the world-distribution of taxa in the genus Leioderma Nyl. (Galloway & Jørgensen 1987: 363, fig. 14), gives the impression that this genus has two species in Peninsular Malaysia, but when checking on the cited specimens there is only one recorded from that region, namely Leioderma sorediatum D. J. Galloway & P. M. Jørg. collected by Gunnar Degelius at Fraser's Hill in Pahang (UPS). However, when going through some herbarium material of the Pannariaceae from TNS, I found well-developed specimens of another species, Leioderma erythrocarpum (Delise ex Nyl.) D. J. Galloway & P. M. Jørg., collected in the Cameron Highlands [alt. 1500–1800 m, 9 viii 1973, K. Suigiyama (TNS)] in Pahang, verifying its presence in the forests of Peninsular Malaysia. This also confirms the special status of these lichenologically poorly known forests (see e.g. van Steenis 1962 on the montane forests of the Malaysian region), where amongst other things some of the most typical SE Asian species of Erioderma also occur, viz. E. phaeorhizum Vain. and E. tomentosum Hue (as well as E. sorediatum P. M. Jørg. & D. J. Galloway, see Jørgensen & Sipman 2002). The nearest previous records of L. erythrocarpum are from montane forests in Borneo and Java (Galloway & Jørgensen 1987: 383).