The papers of this volume cover a wide variety of taxa including species of Aspicilia (Megasporaceae) Caloplaca, Fulgensia, and Xanthoria (Teloschistaceae), Cladonia (Cladoniaceae) Collema and Leciophysma (Collemataceae) Compsocladium, Ramalina, and Tephromela (Ramalinaceae), Fuscidea, Maronea and Ropalospora (Fuscideaceae), Gyalideopsis (Gomphillaceae), Kalbographa and Schismatomma (Graphidaceae), Lecanora and Maronina (Lecanoraceae), Ocellularia (Thelotremataceae), Hypotrachyna, Menegazzia, Parmelia, Parmotrema and Xanthoparmelia (Parmeliaceae), Heterodermia, Physconia and Rinodina (Physciaceae), Placopsis (Trapeliaceae) and Santessoniella (Pannariaceae) as well as the lichenicolous fungi on Tephromela. The geographical gamut of the contributions is similarly wide and covers the neotropics (Brazil, the Carribean, Costa Rica), North America, Europe, Africa, tropical Asia and Australia.

Furthermore, papers in this volume describe a number of new species nine of which are named in honour of Klaus Kalb.

This volume comprises 27 articles by 51 authors from all parts of the world. It includes contributions not only from classical systematics but also from a wide range of fields including molecular phylogeny, ecology and biogeography. Apart from lichenological contributions it also includes a preface containing biographical notes of Klaus Kalb, three contribution related to him, including David Galloway’s personal reflections. The substantial contributions concern the families Fuscideaceae, Teloschistaceae, Parmeliaceae and the genera Aspicilia, Maronina, Ocellularia, Placopsis, Ramalina, Schistophoron; and also information on species from different parts of the world. Some of the most significant contributions are the paper by Ahti on the Cladonia verticillata group, which provides an identification key of this group and includes the description of four new species; Elix reports on further new species in Parmeliaceae from Australasia, in which the author describes eight new species; Galloway & Arvidsson publish on Placopsis in Ecuador; Mangold et al. on Ocellularia in Australia and provide a key to the species with one new species described; Kondratyuk et al. report on Teloschistaceae of Australia; Marcelli et al. on Brazilian different lichenized fungi. The latter authors describe six new species in Parmotrema, Heterodermia and Leptogium; and Lücking describes a new genus in Graphidaceae, viz. Kalbographa.

Some contributions also provide molecular phylogenetic approaches in this volume. Bylin et al. present a phylogenetic study on Fuscideceae and the paper concludes that Fuscidea and Maronea should be transferred to Umbilicariales, and Ropalosporaceae reinstated for the genus Ropalospora. The phylogenetic tree presented in this paper lacks statistical support especially at main nodes due to single gene analysis and or poor taxon sampling. Lohtander et al. provide a phylogeny of some Russian Physconia species, and the phylogeny of Aspicilia is studied by Nordin et al.

The volume also includes a significant contribution on lichenicolous fungi by Hafellner. The article treats 11 lichenicolous fungi species inhabiting Tephromela, of which two are described new to science and a key of all known species found on Tephromela is also provided. Furthermore, this volume includes an account on ecological study in tropical rainforests at Khao Yai National Park, Thailand by Boonpragob and Wetchasart. Nine different ecological groups are distinguished based on their distribution, and information on long term monitoring is provided.

The scientific and editorial standards are very high and the quality of the reproduction of the photographs is excellent. The volume contains articles from diverse fields of lichenology and many new names which are introduced here from different parts of the world. This Festschrift is certainly of interest to a wide spectrum of lichenologists.

P .K. DIVAKAR, Madrid

Nova Hedwigia 87/1-2

Many of the authors contributing to the previous volume have also papers in this one, and the treatments follow similar layouts, with good descriptions and illustrations for the new taxa, and keys where appropriate. Nevertheless, a few more papers embrace the use of molecular data to support or discuss current systematic emplacements of the taxa, e.g. Bylin and collaborators’ on the phylogenetic study of the Fuscideaceae (pp. 49-60), Lohtander et al.’s treatment of Physconia in Russia (pp. 175-184) which also describes two new species in the genus, and Nordin et al.’s (pp. 247-266) presentation of preliminary molecular data on 26 species of Aspicilia from Fennoscandia. This information is always compared with morphological and chemical variation. Although the majority of taxonomic and nomenclatural novelties in the text (42 and six respectively) are from lichenologically less explored regions and continue to support Aptroot’s prediction that at least 50 % of tropical forest lichens remain undescribed, there is still work to be done in Europe. Thus the papers by Harrie Sipman (pp. 267- 277) and Søchting, Huneck & Etayo (pp. 279-286) describe four and one new species respectively from Greece, Germany, and Spain.

Although Kalb’s 89 research papers and input to the subject in the last 40 years might seem by comparison to that of Galloway’s more ‘modest’, I would direct you to the last paragraph of Marcelli and collaborators’ article on p. 225, where they not only dedicate this contribution to their teacher and friend, but show Klaus as a generous human being. I was very moved by their simple and effective way of saying thank you. I am sure he is very proud of them, and hope that his own contribution to the subject will not stop at 65!

Begoña Aguirre-Hudson, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew/U.K.

Mycotaxon vol. 107, 2009

PERSOONIA vol. 21 (December 2008)