Fissidens manilalia sp. nov. (Fissidentaceae), a corticolous species belonging to the subgenus Aloma is described and illustrated from a human influenced habitat in the lowlands of Kerala, India. It is also compared with the related taxa F. bogoriensis M.Fleisch and F. flabellulus Thwaites & Mitt. Challenges to the conservation of species in human influenced habitats in India are also discussed.

The new species Pyrenula clavatispora is described from Florida. It has 7–12-septate, narrowly clavate ascospores and clavate asci. The only somewhat similar species are distributed over various islands in the Pacific Ocean. A key is provided for all species of Pyrenula with ascospores over 4 times as long as wide.

Recent collections from southeastern North America prompted a revision of Gyalideopsis ozarkensis and G. subaequatoriana. The protologues and original material of these names are shown to comprise elements of three seemingly allopatric taxa that can be recognized based on differences in diahyphae morphology that appear to be correlated to different biogeographic patterns. Gyalideopsis ozarkensis is restricted to specimens with long multi-septate diahyphae from the Ozarks, Ouachitas, and the southwestern Appalachian Mountains. Gyalideopsis subaequatoriana is restricted to collections from tropical central Florida with moniliform diahyphae. A third species, G. bartramiorum, is described as new to science for material from the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain and southern Appalachians Mountains. All three taxa are illustrated and maps of their geographic distributions are presented.

The Asian moss Didymodon constrictus (Mitt.) K.Saito is newly reported for North America from Alberta, Canada. The species features basally fragile flagellate branchlets, which when young are similar to bulbils. Following recent revisionary work, a combination in Geheebia Schimp. is provided and evolutionary relationships are discussed. Features of the habitat and geographic distribution are described. Most Asian specimens of D. constrictus examined for this study were actually D. icmadophilus (Schimp. ex Müll. Hal.) K.Saito.

Due to isolation, islands are known to harbor a high number of endemics. Although most lichen species are widespread, a number of genera are well-known for the large number of endemics. Often, those endemic taxa have a low population size and are vulnerable to ecosystem change. We carried out a survey of all seven endemic lichens of the island of Porto Santo (Madeira, Portugal, 42 km²) in order to generate data for a IUCN Red List assessment. Six km² of suitable habitat for the species were searched and mapped at 100 m resolution. The main habitat for the species consisted of volcanic outcrops, mainly basalt peaks and lava flows on the slopes. All accessible areas—circa 90% of the peaks and 50% of all outcrops—were surveyed by the authors during one week as a volunteer project. The population size of Anzia centrifuga was estimated to be 50–100 individuals. It occurred only on exposed, stable, vertical, N to W facing rock faces above 240 m, restricting the potential habitat to less than 1.0 km². Ramalina nematodes occurred often abundantly on most of the larger exposed ridges. Ramalina confertula and R. portosantana each occur on several rock outcrops in the N part of the island. Ramalina erosa, R. jamesii and R. timdaliana were restricted to an area often less than 1000 m² in the surroundings of their type localities. After application of the IUCN criteria, all studied endemics fitted well into category Critically Endangered although no immediate threats seem present.

Fungi exhibit some of the greatest reproductive diversity among Eukaryotes. In addition to sexual and asexual reproduction, fungi engage in parasexual processes (e.g., mitotic recombination), which results in new genetic variation. Lichenized fungi possess the full complement of reproductive processes present in their non-lichenized relatives but with further embellishment as a result of obligate symbiosis with algae and other organisms. Therefore, lichens serve as an excellent model system in reproductive biology, but no study has yet tested the commonly held assumption that lichen mycelia are haploid. We present new whole genome assemblies from seven unrelated lichens and use allelic ratio frequencies to estimate ploidy. Of these seven, three were derived from multispore mycelial cultures and the remaining four were derived from intact lichen thalli (i.e., from metagenomic reads). Data from the metagenome samples indicate that two are likely haploid or highly homozygous diploid as a result of clonal mating whereas the remaining two yielded highly skewed allelic ratios that warrant further study. In contrast, we recovered evidence consistent with a hypothesis of a diploid or dikaryotic rather than haploid mycelium for all three multispore cultures. The most likely explanation for the latter is an early developmental fusion of sporelings, or fusion of hyphae resulting from these sporelings, to yield a diploid or dikaryotic lichen mycelium. Our data provide insights into understanding lichen ploidy and reproduction in lichen-forming fungi.

Three experiments were conducted to test new and established methods for lichen transplantation in the southern Appalachian Mountains. First, small fragments of Graphis sterlingiana, Hypotrachyna virginica and Lepraria lanata were placed on medical gauze attached to the most common substrate of each species to test the feasibility of transplanting narrowly endemic species with this established method. The medical gauze did not withstand the weather conditions at the transplant site, so a second experiment was conducted to test more resilient materials. Burlap, cheesecloth, medical gauze and a plastic air filter were directly compared for their use as artificial transplant substrates with Lepraria finkii as the test lichen. Third, transplants of Usnea angulata were established to test its amenability to transplantation by hanging fragments on monofilament. The first two experiments were established on Roan Mountain, North Carolina, and the third experiment at Highlands Biological Station, North Carolina. In the first two experiments medical gauze did not withstand local weather conditions and nearly all gauze fell from the trees within 6 months. The plastic air filter and burlap performed best as artificial substrates for transplants, with a 60% and 80% success rate, respectively. Cheesecloth remained attached to the trees, but only 20% of lichen fragments remained attached to the substrate after one year. In the third experiment U. angulata grew 3.5 ± 1.4 cm in the first five months and 1.8 ± 1.5 cm in the next four months, exceeding previously reported growth rates for this species. These results advance methods for conservation-focused lichen transplants, and expand established methods to a new region and new species.

A recent field trip to the adjacent states of Maranhão, Pará and Tocantins yielded the following undescribed lichens: Buellia lichexanthonica, Chrysothrix citrinella, Cryptothecia isidioxantha and Heterocyphelium triseptatum (which is also reported from Tanzania). In addition, 127 species are reported new to Tocantins state, 126 to Maranhão and 73 to Pará; 22 of these are first records for Brazil. viz. Astrothelium ferrugineum, A. nigratum, A. norisianum, Bathelium inspersomastoideum, Bulbothrix sipmanii, Caloplaca oxfordensis, Collema rugosum, C. texanum, Diorygma erythrellum, Graphis atrocelata, G. deserpens, G. hiascens, G. norstictica, Lecanographa subcaesioides, Lecanora jamesii, Platygramme computata, Platythecium suberythrellum, Porina coralloidea, P. hibernica, Staurothele arenaria, Synarthothelium cerebriforme and Verrucaria margacea. The new combination Gassicurtia endococcinea is also made; it is the first saxicolous member of this genus.

The Lambiella caeca group of North America is a poorly known group of diminutive epiphytes with black lecideine apothecia occurring on conifer bark. We describe a new species in this group, L. arenosa, which occurs on Pinus contorta on the dunes of the Oregon coast. Both Lambiella caeca and L. arenosa share a black disk with raised, thin, persistent, often flexuose, black margins, an internally dark exciple that is thin and even, a thin, usually dark brown epithecium, and branched paraphyses that are moniliform in the upper part with K. The easiest characters to differentiate them are the smaller spores (averaging 8–11 μm long) and more conspicuous thallus of L. caeca, in contrast to somewhat larger spores (averaging over 11 μm long) and endosubstratal thallus in L. arenosa. While the known ranges of L. arenosa and L. caeca s.str. do not overlap (hyperoceanic West Coast for L. arenosa, boreal for L. caeca s.str.), a third group of specimens is problematic. Currently, we lack the data to establish whether previously sequenced members of the L. caeca group from western North America belong to L. caeca, L. arenosa, or additional undescribed species.

The structure of mitochondrial genomes varies among non-lichenized fungi in terms of their genic and intronic content and genic order. Whether lichenized fungal mitogenomes are equally labile is unknown due to the paucity of available mitogenomes. We assembled the mitogenome of Ricasolia amplissima (Peltigerales, Lobariaceae), using massive parallel sequencing, and compared its structure to that of two species of Peltigera (Peltigeraceae). The mitochondrial genome of R. amplissima comprised 82,333 bp, with a 29.8% G C content, and holds 15 unique protein-coding genes, 29 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes, and one non-coding RNA gene. Although the protein-coding gene content in the mitogenome of Peltigera and Ricasolia was identical, the relative gene order differed substantially, revealing that significant gene rearrangements also characterize the evolution of mitogenomes of lichenized ascomycetes at a relatively shallow phylogenetic depth, such as within the order Peltigerales.

A new species of Chionoloma Dixon, C. fractum M.Alonso, M.J.Cano & J.A.Jiménez, is described from Central and South America (Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela). The species is distinguished morphologically by lanceolate or linear leaves, with apices usually broken, leaf margins strongly sinuous, basal marginal cells forming a V-shaped pattern, dorsal surface cells of the costa quadrate-round and papillose toward apex, costa percurrent or excurrent in a short mucro and central strand present. Drawings and light microscope photographs of the new species are provided. Moreover, the principal distinctive characters that separate it from the nearest species of Chionoloma are discussed and a key to Neotropical species of the genus is provided.