Thirty-one names are considered to be new synonyms of accepted species and six species examined during the study are combined in other genera: Arthonia sororiella comb. Nova (bas. O. sororiella), Enterographa subcervina comb. nova (bas. O. subcervina), Lecanographa martii comb. nova (bas. O. martii), L. rufa comb. nova (bas. O. rufa), L. subnothella comb. nova (bas. O. subnothella) and Patellaria stirtonii comb. nova (bas. O. stirtonii).

Three species previously described as lichens (O. agelaea, O. gregalis and O. nigeriensis) are demonstrated to be lichenicolous fungi. Nine species are considered as doubtful or are excluded from the genus.

The volume also provides a key to all species of lichenized and corticolous Opegrapha from the Paleotropics, that is Africa and Asia.

The Belgian author was honoured by the Hale Award for his excellent PhD dissertation as announced during IAL6 international lichenological symposium in 2008. His current work is a revision of the Paleotropical corticolous Opegrapha species for which he studied specimens of 19 herbaria, carried out field studies in Bénin, Gabon, Rwanda, Zambia, La Réunion and investigated extra-Paleotropical collections as well.

Among the ca 300 Opegrapha species of the world he found 45 species in the Paleotropics during the revision and discovered 8 species new to science what he described formally in the volume: O. bisokeana, O. borbonica, O. deblockiae, O. dekeseli, O. maldiveana, O. nyungweana, O. subdimidiata and O. ugandensis. The 31 synonym names were established.

The 6 earlier Opegrapha species were placed in other genera and so the following new combinations were published: Arthonia sororiella, Enterographa subcervina, Lecanographa martii, L. rufa, L. subnothella, Patellaria stirtonii. The author also found that 3 of the species (O. agelaea, O. gregalis and O. nigeriensis) must be regarded as lichenicolous ones. All species are listed in the index. Furthermore a key is given to the treated accepted species both for lichenised and lichenicolous ones. The key seems to be easily applicable though for the separation of some species the presence of lichen substances (confluentic acid, norstictic acid, psoromic acid) must be analysed by TLC and this might mean a problem in tropical countries.

The volume is richly illustrated: there are one or more micrographs for each species presenting the fine morphological differences of the fruit-bodies (lirellae). Characters of asci, ascospores and conidia are mostly shown on ink drawings, seldom as microscopic views. Distribution maps are also added to several species. Unfortunately, the knowledge on distribution and ecology is still limited in the case of most of the species.

It is a well and nicely edited volume summarising a lot of new information, very important for studying lichens of tropical areas. Identifying Opegrapha species of sites in various environments by the new key will also increase the knowledge on indicator value of these species.

E. FARKAS

The Editor

International Lichenological Newsletter 42 (2)

This is the fifth monographic work in the series on the genera once included in the family Opegraphaceae (see also Torrente & Egea, 1989 and Egea & Torrente, 1994) and currently referred to the family Roccellaceae (see also Sparrius, 2004 and Erz et al., 2005).

In this volume the author evaluates the tropical species from Africa, South-East Asia and Australasia included in the genus Opegrapha based on morphological and chemical characters. Sadly, the treatment is only traditional, with six pages of text discussing the variations of thallus, ascoma, conidioma and chemical characters. For a more modern approach, using molecular methods, we are referred to the author’s collaborative paper in Erz et al. (2009), where it was shown that the genus is polyphyletic and needs to be split into several genera. However, none of those findings are reflected in this treatment. There is no discussion, either, on the current systematic placement of the genus and its relationship with other morphologically very distinct genera in the Roccellaceae. Nevertheless, some specific comparisons to confamilial genera are scattered in the entries under headings of Excipulum (p. 10), Hymenium and hypothecium (p. 11), Asci (pp. 11-12) and Ascospores (pp. 12-13).

In the traditional sense Opegrapha, together with the related Arthonia, is one of the most species-rich genera in the order, with over a thousand specific names once attributed to it, although only around 360 species are recognised in the latest edition of the Dictionary of the Fungi (Kirk et al., 2008). In the current work, the author treats 105 species epithets and, of these, only 45 species are accepted in the genus. However, eight of the species are new to science, mostly as a result of the collecting trips undertaken by the author to the central African countries of Benin, Gabon, Rwanda, Zambia and La Réunion. These fresh collections were supplemented with types and other unnamed material from various countries found in national and private herbaria, e.g. material from Thailand kept at BM. The author includes five keys to enable separation of the species, which have been compiled on the basis of ascospore septation: a very practical approach, though difficult to apply if the material is old or in poor condition.

Following other monographic treatments, the species are discussed in alphabetical order, including synonymy, detailed descriptions, chemistry, distribution and ecology, observations, and figures (124 in total), comprising black and white habitus photographs, ascus and ascospore drawings, and species distribution maps. In addition to the 31 species listed as synonyms, six belong to other genera pertaining to the same order, e.g. Arthonia (Arthoniaceae), Enterographa and Lecanographa (Roccellaceae), and to the order Patellariales: i.e. Patellaria stirtonii, and new combinations are proposed for them. Nine other species are excluded from the genus mostly on the grounds of the types being in poor condition. Despite some of my above misgivings regarding the lack of systematic input and comparisons to similar genera which would have helped beginners, this work is a much-needed descriptive contribution to the tropical species in genus, and follows in the footsteps of the work undertaken by Redinger during the first half of the 20th century.

Begoña Aguirre-Hudson

Bibliography of Systematic Mycology, 12(9), April 2010

Lichenologica series is another step in this process. Being a lichenologists that has difficulties identifying Opegrapha species myself, even in temperate regions, I was very impressed by the work of Ertz. This publication is part of a wider project of the author to understand diversity and evolution of arthonialean fungi. The revision is well done and the keys and descriptions of the species convincing and clear. This is certainly not the last word on the diversity of tropical Opegrapha species, but a great achievement. Ertz accepts forty-five corticolous species in the Paleotropics, of which eight are described as new to science. He also identified over 30 names as synonyms of previously described species. A number of species is excluded from Opegrapha. The discussions and general descriptions of the generic characters are short, but clear and sufficient. The chemical part is rather short, but it seems that the species do not show a large chemical diversity. The illustrations of the species are generally good, habit photographs are given, while a number of drawings of asci and ascospores show micromorphological details. Distribution maps for some species are given that may serve as a stimulus for lichenologists working in tropical countries to fill some of the apparent gaps in our knowledge. This is a well done study and certainly of interest to all lichenologsist working on tropical lichens.

H.T. LUMBSCH, Chicago

Nova Hedwigia vol. 91 issue 3-4