Peltigeralean lichenized fungi were surveyed in the mangroves of Trat Province at the eastern coast of Thailand. Eleven species were found belonging to the genera Coccocarpia, Lepidocollema, Leptogium and Physma. Among them, the genus Coccocarpia was most abundant and diverse. Lepidocollema wainioi was also recorded here from Thailand for the first time. Based on the current classification of the peltigeralean fungi the phylogenetic placement of the suborder Collematineae was evaluated using a combined dataset of nuclear ITS and mitochondrial SSU rDNA sequences. Phylogenetic analyses using maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches revealed issues with the species delimitation in the genera Coccocarpia and Lepidocollema, where the data indicated non-monophyletic lineages. Additional studies with extended sampling will be necessary to address species boundaries in these lichens.

Preliminary results are presented of a project aiming to explore the lichen biodiversity in Sri Lanka. The following mostly corticolous (one saxicolous) new species are described: Arthonia karunaratnei with dark brown, round apothecia in groups that are surrounded by a bright orange area, with ascospores 2-septate, 9.0–10.5 × 3.5–4.5 μm; Enterographa wijesundarae with sessile, pruinose apothecia with thin margins that are higher than the disc, with ascospores 13–17-septate, 50–60 × 4.5–5.5 μm, without substances; Fellhanera stipitata with convex, brown apothecia, fusiform to clavate, 5–7-septate ascospores of 21–24.5 × 2.0–2.5 μm, and sessile to tubular pycnidia with conidia 4.5–5.5 × 1.5–2.0 μm; Malmidea plicata which is similar to M. vinosa but with folded thallus and smaller ascospores; Phlyctis lueckingii with ca. 0.2–0.3 mm large, grey-pruinose apothecia in dense groups and fusiform 7-septate ascospores of 27–29 × 5.5–6.5 μm; thallus with norstictic acid.; Porina viridipustulata with numerous pustules of ca. 0.2–0.7 mm diam. and ca. 0.1–0.3 mm high and ascospores 3–7-septate, 57–60 × 12–13 μm; Stirtonia isidiata with glossy white thallus with isidia, which are partly globose but mostly irregularly cylindrical, often with some constrictions or branching, usually gnarled and decumbent, generally ca. 0.2–0.3 mm thick and up to ca. 2 mm long; ascigerous areas apothecium-like, sessile; ascus with 1 ascospore, ca. 250 × 150 μm; ascospores hyaline, broadly fusiform 7–9-septate, 210–225 × 105–115 μm.; and Trypetheliopsis hirsuta with black, ear-shaped, pointed, glossy campylidia of ca. 0.4–0.9 mm diam., ca. 0.5–1.2 mm high, at the outside with black bristles. Furthermore, 88 lichen species are newly recorded from Sri Lanka, including 55 species new for the Indian subcontinent. Interestingly, eight of these are first reports from the whole of the Palaeotropics. These species were previously known only from either Costa Rica or the Amazonian and/or Atlantic rain forest of Brazil.

Bacidia schweinitzii is a common crustose lichen that is widespread in eastern North America. It is comprised of three distinct morphotypes differing in apothecial pigmentation. Here we show that molecular data from the mtSSU region affirms the distinctiveness of these morphotypes, prompting the recognition of three species: B. schweinitzii s.str., B. ekmaniana sp. nov. and B. purpurans sp. nov. We also show that a common sorediate crustose lichen, sympatric with B. schweinitzii, represents a monophyletic lineage whose relationship with B. schweinitzii s.str. could not be resolved with certainty using analyses of ITS and mtSSU sequence data. We recognize this sorediate lineage as a distinct species, B. sorediata sp. nov. All four taxa are described, illustrated and mapped.

Lichens that reproduce by means of vegetative propagules (soredia or isidia) are generally thought to have broad geographic distributions. However, recent studies have shown that some asexually reproducing lichens with broad distribution may be comprised of multiple, independent species-level lineages. Our understanding of species diversity in asexually reproducing lichenized fungal species may be further confounded by the fact that otherwise morphologically similar taxa separated based on the presence or absence of vegetative reproductive structures may in fact be conspecific. In this study, we investigate genetic diversity of the pantropical sorediate species Hypotrachyna sorocheila using molecular sequence data. Specifically, we generated a three-marker dataset for Hypotrachyna subgen. Everniastrum specimens, and reconstructed a multilocus, molecular phylogeny. Our results show that sorediate samples phenotypically identifiable as H. sorocheila do not form a monophyletic group, but form two distinct species-level lineages. Although our data support the pantropical distribution of H. sorocheila s.str., including populations in East Africa, a distinct species-level clade was found in Asia and is described as a new species here, H. himalayana Divakar & Kirika sp. nov. This study highlights the fact that the taxonomic significance of reproductive traits may vary among lineages of lichen-forming fungi, and that there is need for careful case-by-case studies.

We posed two questions regarding the desiccation tolerance (DT) of the moss Syntrichia pagorum: (1) What is the ecological strategy of DT in three available life phases (propagula, juvenile and adult shoots)? and (2) which desiccating factor, rate of drying or equilibrating relative humidity, has the greater effect on plant survival and health in these three life phases? Plants of S. pagorum were regenerated from an herbarium specimen collected from the American southwest, subcultured to remove field effects, and grown in Petri dishes on native sand for up to 6 months, producing in sequence juvenile shoots, adult shoots and propagula. Whereas juvenile shoots exhibited an ecological strategy of inducible desiccation tolerance (IDT), the propagula and adult shoots largely exhibited the strategy of constitutive desiccation tolerance (CDT). This conclusion was reached by subjecting each life phase to two rates of drying (20 min and 48 hours at subturgor) in combination with two equilibrating relative humidities (RH, 50% and <1%), and monitoring germination rate (propagula), visual leaf damage, and chlorophyll fluorescence (propagula and shoots) upon rehydration. We show for the first time that (1) cultured, dehardened adult shoots and propagula of a bryophyte are inherently CDT at an equilibrating RH of 50%, (2) rate of drying has a greater effect on rehydrated plant health than equilibrating RH, and (3) a bryophyte shoot can transition during normal development from one ecological strategy of desiccation tolerance to the alternative strategy.