A study of the diversity and distribution of lichens at 10 sites within the Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, India, revealed 177 species, belonging to 71 genera and 35 families. The Sanctuary exhibited almost all the habit and habitat groups of lichens within its climatically heterogenous and altitudinally (400–2700 m) varied landscape. Among the different habitat groups, obligately corticolous lichens were dominant (133 species), followed by facultatively corticolous lichens (occurring on both rock and bark; 25 species), saxicolous lichens (17 species) and terricolous lichens (2 species). The corticolous habitat group was dominated by crustose species while saxicolous and terricolous groups were made up of mostly fruticose species. A substantial number of species (77) occurred at single sites only, and each of the 10 sites supported a distinct lichen assemblage. Altitude and humidity were the putative key factors controlling the diversity and distribution of lichens within the Sanctuary. The mid altitude range 1400–1600 m had the greatest lichen diversity, which showed a unimodal pattern in relation to altitude.

Caloplaca squamuloisidiata van den Boom & V. J. Rico is described as new to science. It is a saxicolous species, pale green to grey, with olivaceous patches, with a rimose-areolate, squamulose, lobulate and isidiate thallus, growing on inland exposed acid rock faces in the western half of the Iberian Peninsula in the Mediterranean region. Its ecology and distribution, and the lichen communities in which it was found are presented. A key to the isidiate and granular-isidiate Caloplaca species in Western Europe is also included.