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Rapid growth of vehicles in Medan, Indonesia, is one of the causes in the increasing of air pollution, in which approximately 85% is contributed merely by vehicles. On the other hand, the use of lead-based fuel in motor vehicle increases the air contamination in Medan. This study aimed to obtain an accumulation of lead (Pb) in the thallus of lichens in mahogany trees in four different locations in Medan, Sumatera Utara, Indonesia, in which the lichens act as a bioindicator of air contamination as well as measuring the lichen’s lead correlation and traffic densities. Purposive sampling location was determined based on the traffic density level with different air pollutions; the location which was far from traffic circulation was used as the control. The analysis of Pb was conducted using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). The data were analyzed descriptively to discover and compare Pb accumulation between each location with different traffic density levels. The result showed that there were 11 species of 7 genera and 7 families with two types of the thallus (foliose and crustose) in mahogany trees. The traffic density level influenced the diversity of lichens as the traffic density was quite significant with the number of lichen types. The levels of Pb and traffic density correlated very significantly at the level of α = 0.01 for Parmelia saxatilis, Lepraria incana, and Pertusaria amara type, while Opegrapha atra had a significant correlation. The accumulation of Pb in the thallus of Pertusaria amara ranged from 5.23 to 15.07 μg/g, whereas medium in Lepraria incana ranged from 1.19 to 4.88 μg/g. Thus, Pertusaria amara which had greater Pb level than Lepraria incana had the potential as a resistant bioindicator. The correlation analysis of Pb levels and traffic density showed that Pertusaria amara had a significantly high correlation compared with Parmelia plumbea, Parmelia glabratula, and Graphis scripta. Furthermore, Lecanora conizaeoides was a tolerant bioindicator of air pollution whereas Parmelia saxatilis had the potential to be a tolerant bioindicator.

A key to the forty-seven taxa in the lichen genus Pertusaria known and accepted from China is presented. The following five species are reported as new to China: P. carneopallida, P. hemisphaerica, P. monogona, P. plittiana, P. pycnothelia, P. trachythallina, and P. xanthodes. Specimens representative of each taxon are cited. Pertusaria albovelata is synonymized with P. velata. Pertusaria huangshanensis S. Yu & J. Wu ex Q. Ren sp. nov. is described.

Twenty lichen taxa are reported as new from Guinea-Bissau; one is new to continental Africa, seven are reported for the first time from western Africa and one is described here as new to science, namely Pertusaria guineabissauensis, which has eight hyaline, smooth-walled ascospore per ascus and contains stictic acid.

Lepra picrolichenica sp. nov., collected from Guangxi and Guangdong Provinces in China, is described and illustrated. The new species is distinguished by the cylindrical fragile isidia with pink or orange-red rounded apices and presence of picrolichenic acid. Four species of the lichen genus Pertusaria s.lat. are transferred to the genus Lepra Scop., and diagnostic characteristics of each species are briefly described. A key to all 14 isidiate species of Lepra lacking xanthones and occurring on bark is also provided.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is renowned as one of the most biologically diverse tracts of land in North America and is the most visited national park in the United States. The park comprises ∼830 square miles, epitomizes eastern temperate hardwood forests of North America, and serves as a refuge for nearly 20,000 documented species from microbes to plants and mammals. Lichens comprise one particularly diverse group of organisms in the park. In this study, we review data from our 11 years of lichenological research in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Based on approximately 6,000 new field collections generated, the park checklist now includes 920 species, a 129% increase over estimates made two decades ago. Nearly a quarter of the lichens reported in the park are known from only a single occurence whereas only 7% of the lichens are known from 20 or more occurences. An assessment of commonness/rarity for all 920 species indicates that nearly half of the park's lichens should be considered to be infrequent, rare, or exceptionally rare. We assessed the distributions of all 920 species and found that 54 are endemic to the southeastern United States, 30 are endemic to the southern Appalachians, and eight occur nowhere else than within the confines of the national park. We discuss biogeographical affinities of the park's lichen biota as a whole, delimiting six regional “floristic” connections. Our 11 years of research have resulted in the discovery of several species presumed to be extinct or near-extinct. We make one new combination (Fuscopannaria frullaniae) and describe five species as new to science, each commemorating National Park Service staff instrumental to the completion of the study: Heterodermia langdoniana, Lecanora darlingiae, Lecanora sachsiana, Leprocaulon nicholsiae, and Pertusaria superiana.

Lichens were investigated in Brazil in a small area along the Roosevelt River in Amazonas; 25 species are first reports for Brazil, and 190 additional species are first records for Amazonas state. As many as 24 species are described that are new to science: Allographa lineatipruinosa, Allographa variopruinata, Arthonia xanthopycnidiata, Astrothelium aurantioseptemseptatum, Astrothelium bulbosum, Astrothelium coloratum, Astrothelium inspersonovemseptatum, Astrothelium insulare, Astrothelium laureroides, Astrothelium marjoleinae, Astrothelium meandratum, Astrothelium multireflexum, Astrothelium myopicum, Astrothelium parabathelium, Astrothelium stellare (also known from Mato Grosso state), Astrothelium suprainspersum, Astrothelium xanthocavatum, Ocellularia fuscolichexanthonica, Ocellularia lichexanthocavata, Pertusaria amazonica, Phaeographis xantholirellinata, Porina ramiisidiata, Pseudopyrenula connexa, and Sprucidea squamulosa.

The first typification of Lepra Scop. by Pertusaria discoidea (Pers.) Malme (= Lepra albescens (Hudson) Hafellner), made in the Paris Code (1956), is shown to be correct after studies of the original material in the Micheli Herbarium in FI. Details of the latter are given. All later statements about this case, even in the Code, are irrelevant.

A distinctive group of species historically classified within Pertusaria subgenus Pionospora have been treated at the genus level under the name Variolaria, and more recently Marfloraea. Recent work has shown that Lepra is the oldest available name for this group. A nomenclatural summary of the members of the group that occur in North America north of Mexico is presented, including formal new combinations for the epithets that have not already been transferred to Lepra (i.e., P. andersoniae, P. commutata, P. floridiana, P. hypothamnolica, P. multipunctoides, V. pustulata, P. subdactylina, P. trachythallina, P. ventosa and P. waghornei). A key to the species occurring in the region is also presented.

Lijiangomyces laojunensis gen. et sp. nov. and Sclerococcum stictae sp. nov. are reported from China and identified through DNA sequence analyses (LSU, ITS, and tef 1-α) and morphological characteristics. Phylogenetic analysis showed that L. laojunensis forms a distinct lineage within Mytilinidiaceae, closely related to the Mytilinidion subclade, leading to the establishment of a new genus within this family. This saprotrophic species grows on the bark of Abies fabri , often surrounded by the thallus of Pertusaria species. Lijiangomyces laojunensis is characterized by broadly open, black hysterothecia, clavate asci, and uniseriate, hyaline muriform ascospores. Sclerococcum stictae , a new lichenicolous species, forms a sister clade relationship to a lichenicolous fungus, S. ricasoliae . It was found on the thallus of Sticta , and is characterized by black apothecia, elongate, cylindrical asci, and brown, elliptical, and 1-septate ascospores. Descriptions, illustrations, and phylogenetic analysis results of the new taxa are provided.

A new revised checklist of lichenized fungi in Thailand is presented, including 1, 292 species. Recent work on the taxonomy of these organisms in Thailand resulted in an enormous increase in our knowledge of the lichen biota of the country – the current checklist includes more than twice as many species as the previous catalogue published 15 years ago – and phylogenetic studies resulted in numerous changes in the generic classification of lichenized fungi. Hence, a new checklist is here presented summarizing the current knowledge of lichens in Thailand. Six new records are reported, viz. Acanthothecis salazinica , Bactrospora metabola , Buellia parastata , Diploschistes cinereocaesius , Rolfidium coccocarpioides , and Trapelia placodioides . Five previously recorded species, namely Lecanora carpinea , Platismatia glauca , P. lacunosa , P. tuckermanii and Roccella phycopsis are shown to be based on misidentifications and are excluded from the checklist. Three new combinations of species previously placed in Pertusaria to Lepra are proposed: L. bulolensis (A.W.Archer, Elix & Streimann) Schmitt & Lumbsch, L. patellifera (A.W.Archer) Schmitt & Lumbsch, and L. subventosa (Malme) Schmitt & Lumbsch. Asia, biodiversity, lichens, new records, taxonomy