Alan Fryday

• PhD
• Research Associate at Michigan State University

We present a robust, five-locus phylogeny of the Megasporaceae and, based on this, propose several taxonomic innovations. The new genus Antidea is erected for Aspicilia brucei , which occupies a position near the base of the phylogeny, and the new species Aspicilia indeterminata and A. suavis are described from Montana. We also show that all North...

The new species Caloplaca tswaluensis is described from Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Caloplaca tswaluensis occurs on the trunks of Vachellia erioloba (camelthorn) trees and is characterized by its 3-septate to quadrilocular ascospores. Molecular data indicate that the new species is placed in the subfamily Teloschi...

The Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa has no previously published data on its lichen biota, which reflects the broader status of lichenology in South Africa. It is estimated that nearly half of the country's lichen species remain undescribed. Consequently, this study aimed to gather baseline data on lichen divers...

The new genus Imsharria is proposed for a crustose species found on or near mountain summits on the Falkland Islands. It is separated from other genera of Lecideaceae by a combination of Porpidia -type asci, halonate ascospores, immersed apothecia and a hyaline hypothecium, and forms a distinct branch in the phylogenetic analysis using the markers...

The name Huea, used for a lichen genus which hosts the two common Antarctic species H. cerussata and H. grisea (= H. coralligera), was formally recommended for rejection by the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi. Based on molecular data, we transfer these two species to the genus Hueidea. Hueidea was originally described in the family Fuscideaceae fo...

Revisions of British and Irish Lichens vol 41: 1–30 Free download available at: https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/identification/lgbi3

Downloads can be obtained from the British Lichen Society website at https://www.britishlichensociety.org.uk/content/lgbi3

Downloads can be obtained from the British Lichen Society website at https://www.britishlichensociety.org.uk/content/lgbi3

The new combination Xenolecia masafuerensis is made for Lecanora masafuerensis, a lichen species known from only two localities on Isla Alejandro Selkirk in the Juan Fernández archipelago, Chile. The species is fully described and illustrated and shown to be morphologically and chemically distinct from the similar X. spadicomma, which is known only...

Publications on the lichens of Alaska go back 182 years, but a modern, comprehensive review of literature on the diversity of Alaskan lichens has been lacking. The authors present a compendium of 2126 accepted taxa fully referenced with published reports from Alaska and their exact localities. Of these 2126 taxa, 1827 are lichen fungi, 277 are lich...

Megalaria crispisulcans A.J. Marshall, Blanchon & de Lange (Ramalinaceae) is described as a new species from populations in Te Ika a Māui / North Island of Aotearoa / New Zealand, and on Rēkohu / Wharekauri / Chatham Island, Aotearoa / New Zealand. The new species is morphologically closely allied to Megalaria orokonuiana, from which it is distingu...

Revisions of British and Irish Lichens

The genus Varicellaria was originally erected for a single species that was similar to the species then included in Pertusaria, which all had simple ascospores, but differed in having 1-septate ascospores. However, a molecular analysis has shown that septate ascospores is not a genus-level trait in the group and that Varicellaria was better charact...

Lecideoid lichen-forming fungi are a large, heterogeneous group that includes many species described during the nineteenth century that are of unclear taxonomic status. We revise such a group, the species of which have previously been treated under the much-misunderstood names Catillaria contristans or Toninia squalescens, and use a seven-locus phy...

Lichens are among the most prominent and successful life forms of metal-rich habitats, including ultramafic rocks and soils; however, research on lichens of ultramafic habitats is limited, especially on the North American continent. This review examines geographic and ecological patterns of ultramafic lichen assemblages by synthesizing published re...

Only two species of the lichen genus Lambiella are known from Antarctica: L. impavida and L. psephota. Here we report a new chemotype of L. psephota collected from James Ross Island in the North-East Antarctic Peninsula region. nrITS, mtSSU and RPB1 gene regions of the norstictic acid deficient L. psephota were obtained, which showed the new chemot...

Glaciers worldwide are currently retreating at unprecedented rates, revealing large tracts of newly exposed rock and till. We present the results of a preliminary, qualitative investigation of the lichen diversity of transient habitats near three glaciers in southeastern Alaska: Muir Glacier within Glacier Bay National Park, and Baird and Patterson...

Two species of the lichen genus Ochrolechia from cool temperate latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere are described and illustrated: O. alectoronica Imshaug ex Kantvilas & Fryday sp. nov., validated on a type from Campbell Island and also occurring in Tasmania and the Auckland Islands; and O. weymouthii Jatta, widespread in Tasmania and the southern...

The new species Aspicilia malvinae is described from the Falkland Islands. It is the first species of Megasporaceae to be discovered on the islands and only the seventh to be reported from South America. It is distinguished from other species of Aspicilia by the unusual secondary metabolite chemistry (hypostictic acid) and molecular sequence data....

Suddenly lichens are hot after hiding in plain sight for nearly two centuries – a recent expedition rapidly revealed at least three new local lichen species, honouring two of South Africa’s botanical stalwarts in the process

Recent field work in the Petersburg Borough of southeastern (SE) Alaska has led to the discovery of two species of lichenized fungi in the Ostropales that are here described as new to science: Jamesiella dacryoidea Fryday, which has green-grey dacryoid thlasidia, and Sagiolechia bairdensis Fryday, which has very small apothecia (<0.2 mm diam.), 3-s...

The new genus Burrowsia (Caliciaceae) is proposed to accommodate the new species B. cataractae, which is known from only a single locality in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Burrowsia is characterized by its pigmented, submuriform ascospores and ascus with an apical tube structure, and also by its DNA sequence data that place it outside related buellioid...

Saxicolous, lecideoid lichenized fungi have a cosmopolitan distribution but, being mostly cold adapted, are especially abundant in polar and high-mountain regions. To date, little is known of their origin or the extent of their trans-equatorial dispersal. Several mycobiont genera and species are thought to be restricted to either the Northern or th...

Bryophytes and Lichens of Letterewe By Oliver Moore. 2019. Ross-shire, Scotland: Letterewe Estate. Pp. 343. Design: IBO, Irma Boom, Eva van Bemmelen. Dimensions 6.75 × 8.75 in. (17.15 × 22.2 cm), weight 1.7 lb (0.78 kg). ISBN 978-90-824953-1-7. Hardback. Price: £50 + postage. To order: email mkamstra@ubmc.nl. - Volume 52 Issue 3 - Alan Fryday

The two frequent Ramalina species in southern South America are R. laevigata Fr., which has abundant apothecia, and R. terebrata Hook. f. & Taylor, which lacks apothecia but has abundant sorediate pseudocyphellae. However, two other taxa that predate Hooker and Taylor’s name were described from the Falkland Islands. These names are investigated her...

Lichens are widely acknowledged to be a key component of high latitude ecosystems. However, the time investment needed for full inventories and the lack of taxonomic identification resources for crustose lichen and lichenicolous fungal diversity have hampered efforts to fully gauge the depth of species richness in these ecosystems. Using a combinat...

An annotated checklist of lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi reported from the Falkland Islands is presented. A total of 408 taxa are reported: 402 species, and six additional infra-specific taxa (four subspecies, one variety and one forma), in 161 genera. Included in these are 15 species of lichenicolous fungi in 12 different genera. One hundr...

We performed comparative profiling of four specialized metabolites in the lichen Evernia prunastri, collected at three different geographic locations, California and Maine, USA, and Yoshkar Ola, Mari El, Russia. Among the compounds produced at high concentrations that were identified in all three specimens, evernic acid, usnic acid, lecanoric acid...

Compared to continental Antarctica, the lichen biota of the various subantarctic islands and island groups is poorly documented. Here we describe the new species Lecanora muscigena Øvstedal & Fryday from the subantarctic island of South Georgia from a collection made in 1980 that was previously included as Trapeliopsis sp. A. by Øvstedal & Lewis Sm...

The new species Psoroma nivale is described from an area of late snow-lie in the Keglo Bay area on the eastern side of Ungava Bay, northern Québec, Canada. It is superficially similar to P. hypnorum but has a dark, brownish black thallus colour without reddish hues, much-branched, proliferating squamules, thick paraphyses, distinct but inconspicuou...

Saxicolous, lecideoid lichenized-fungi have a cosmopolitan distribution but, being mostly cold adapted, are especially abundant in polar and high-mountain regions. To date, little is known of their origin or the extent of their trans-equatorial dispersal. Several mycobiont genera and species are thought to be restricted to either the northern or so...

Eleven new species of crustose, lichenized fungi are described from the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). Nine species are saxicolous, whereas Lecania vermispora occurs on the stems of Hebe elliptica and Tephromela lignicola is lignicolous on fence posts. The new species are: Bacidia marina , with a sordid blue-green K−, N+ violet epihymenium and...

The new lichen species Lecidea phaeophysata is described from rocks close to the coast in Italy, Portugal, France and Ireland. Distinguishing features include Porpidia -type asci and simple paraphyses that are fuscous brown pigmented in their upper section. Its systematic position is discussed but is unclear as molecular data are lacking (all colle...

The type, and only, collections of Buellia campbelliana Elix and Buellia thelotrematicola Elix are shown to be referable to Epilichen scabrosus (Ach.) Clem. and Sclerococcum, respectively. Epilichen scabrosus is here reported for the first time from the Southern Hemisphere. The new combination Sclerococcum thelotrematicola (Elix) Fryday is made, an...

The new species Hymenelia parva is described from a single locality on the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland, Canada. It differs from all previously described species of the Hymenelia/Ionaspis complex by the combination of its small apothecia, lack of apothecial pigmentation, negative epihymenium reactions, green chlorococcoid photobiont and occurrenc...

Nomenclatural type definitions are one of the most important concepts in biological nomenclature. Being physical objects that can be re-studied by other researchers, types permanently link taxonomy (an artificial agreement to classify biological diversity) with nomenclature (an artificial agreement to name biological diversity). Two proposals to am...

Acarospora malouina Øvstedal & K. Knudsen is described from the Falkland Islands. It is morphologically very similar to the Antarctic species A. gwynnii but differs in chemistry, ecology and evidence from molecular data.

We report 100 lichen and allied fungi species for the first time from Québec, Canada. Six of these species are new to North America: Arthonia subastroidea, Biatora mendax, Cornutispora pyramidalis, Gyalecta hypoleuca, Taeniolella pertusariicola, and Varicellaria lactea. Six additional species are new to Canada: Cecidonia xenophana, Lecidea commacul...

Lecanora kohu Printzen, Blanchon, Fryday et de Lange is described as new to science from Rangatira (South East Island), Chatham Islands. It is morphologically similar to L. symmicta (Ach.) Ach., from which it is distinguished by the continuous, areolate thallus, immersed apothecia with pale pink to pink-brown discs, and by the presence of atranorin...

The new species Xenolecia cataractarum Fryday is described from Campbell Island. It differs from X. spadicomma , the only other species of the genus, in having much smaller apothecia and ascospores, an olivaceously pigmented epihymenium (brown in X. spadicomma ), and a thallus with a non-amyloid medulla and norstictic acid (amyloid medulla and conf...

Numerous recent studies of lichenized fungi have uncovered hidden genetic diversity within a single phenotypic entity (so-called ‘cryptic species’). Here we report the opposite situation with vastly different morphologies apparently deriving from the same genotype. Endocena is a monotypic genus known only from southern South America. The single rep...

The data presented here are based on examination of collections made in the 1970s mainly by Barbara Murray and held in the University of Alaska Museum of the North herbarium, Fairbanks (ALA). Four species, Micarea inquinans, Placynthium garovaglioi, Protoblastenia lilacina, and Trimmatothele perquisita, are reported for the first time from North Am...

A new Arthothelium species, A. hymeniicola in the apothecia of an unidentified Bacidia sp., is described from Campbell Island, New Zealand. The new species is remarkable, not only by being the first lichenicolous Arthothelium species, but also by being an endohymenial fungus not forming ascomatal structures. Previously, no Arthoniaceae species were...

The new species Austrella isidioidea , which is unique in the genus in having isidioid structures on the thallus lobe ends as well as apothecia lacking a thalline margin, is described from the Falkland Islands. A collection with an identical mtSSU rDNA sequence to A. arachnoidea but with significant morphological differences ( viz . a variable apot...

Ochrolechia kerguelensis Ertz & Kukwa is described as new to science from the subantarctic islands of Kerguelen. It is characterized by pruinose ascomata, usually 4-spored asci, large ascospores of 50-90 × 32-56 µm, the production of gyrophoric acid only in the apothecia and the lack of variolaric acid. A photobiont with cells containing orange gut...

Details are given of errors and additions to the recently published checklist of lichens reported from South Africa (Fryday 2015). The overall number of taxa reported from South Africa is increased by one, to 1751.

The bryicolous lichen Ameliella andreaeicola is reported for only the second and third times from North America and new to the U.S. from Mitkof Island and Katmai National Preserve, Alaska. Its original discovery in Canada and rediscovery in Alaska are described, along with a note on its disjunct distribution.

We report two saxicolous crustose lichens as new to Canada: Porpidia flavocruenta Fryday & Buschbom and Rhizocarpon amphibium (Fr.) Körb. Both were collected on the Avalon Peninsula of eastern Newfoundland as part of ongoing research on the lichen biodiversity of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. We discuss each lichen genus and list the known spe...

Background: The last comprehensive list of lichenised, lichenicolous and allied fungi reportedfrom South Africa was published in 1950. A checklist is important to provide basic informationon the extent of the diversity, and to provide the most recent name and classification. Objective: To present a list of all the lichenised, lichenicolous and all...

Trapelioid fungi constitute a widespread group of mostly crust-forming lichen mycobionts that are key to understanding the early evolutionary splits in the Ostropomycetidae, the second-most species-rich subclass of lichenized Ascomycota. The uncertain phylogenetic resolution of the approximately 170 species referred to this group contributes to a p...

Background: The last comprehensive list of lichenised, lichenicolous and allied fungi reported from South Africa was published in 1950. A checklist is important to provide basic information on the extent of the diversity, and to provide the most recent name and classification.Objective: To present a list of all the lichenised, lichenicolous and all...

Background: The last comprehensive list of lichenised, lichenicolous and allied fungi reported from South Africa was published in 1950. A checklist is important to provide basic information on the extent of the diversity, and to provide the most recent name and classification.Objective: To present a list of all the lichenised, lichenicolous and all...

Background: The last comprehensive list of lichenised, lichenicolous and allied fungi reported from South Africa was published in 1950. A checklist is important to provide basic information on the extent of the diversity, and to provide the most recent name and classification.Objective: To present a list of all the lichenised, lichenicolous and all...

Background: The last comprehensive list of lichenised, lichenicolous and allied fungi reported from South Africa was published in 1950. A checklist is important to provide basic information on the extent of the diversity, and to provide the most recent name and classification.Objective: To present a list of all the lichenised, lichenicolous and all...

Geochemistry and mineralogy of rocks play important roles in the occurrence of individual lichen species and assembly of lichen communities. Whereas lichens of metal-enriched settings have been a focus of study for many decades, only a few such lichen inventories exist for North America. We reexamined the lichen biota of Pine Hill, a serpentine out...

Eight new species of Lecideaceae are described from the southern subpolar region: Bryobilimbia coppinsiana Fryday, a saxicolous species with one septate ascospores (Campbell Island, New Zealand); Immersaria fuliginosa Fryday, with a thallus composed of thalloconidia (Falkland Islands); Lecidea aurantia Fryday, with an orange thallus (Auckland Islan...

Whereas lichen-habitat relations have been well-documented globally, literature on lichens of vernal pools is scant. We surveyed six vernal pools at Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, Maine, USA for their lichen diversity. Sixty-seven species were identified, including seven species that are new reports for Acadia National Park: Fuscidea...

The new generic name Bryobilimbia is proposed for Lecidea hypnorum and the closely related taxa Lecidea ahlesii var. ahlesii, L. ahlesii var. nemoralis, L. diapensiae, L. sanguineoatra and Mycobilimbia australis. A phylogenetic analysis based on five genes shows that Lecidea berengeriana does not belong to this group but is more closely related to...

Understanding how many species exist and the processes by which they form remains a central topic of ecological and evolutionary biology, but represents a special challenge within microbial groups. The lichen-forming fungi represent one of the best examples in which species evolution and diversity create patterns of high phenotypic plasticity coupl...

We compiled literature, intensively studied 15 sites as a group, and collected opportunistically in other areas of the Yosemite National Park. We report a total of 562 species of lichenized fungi from the Park, adding 461 species to the total of 101 species reported for the Park by the National Park Service database. An additional 22 lichenicolous...

The new taxa Cliostomum subtenerum, Dactylospora suburceolata, Fuscidea oceanica, Lecania granulata, Lecidea herteliana, and Ropalospora lugubris f. sorediata are described from collections made from Scotland and Wales. Outside the British Isles, D. suburceolata is also known from Switzerland, L. herteliana from NE North America and R. lugubris f....

Although several lichen inventories exist for European ultramafic sites, only four surveys of serpentine lichens for North America have been published to date. Of those, only one has been conducted in California. We conducted a survey of saxicolous lichens from ultramafic rocks (including nephrite, partially serpentinized peridotite, and serpentini...

Although several lichen inventories exist for European ultramafic sites, only four surveys of serpentine lichens for North America have been published to date. Of those, only one has been conducted in California. We conducted a survey of saxicolous lichens from ultramafic rocks (including nephrite, partially serpentinized peridotite, and serpentini...

The new species Rhizocarpon austroamphibium Fryday & Kantvilas is described from two alpine localities in southwestern Tasmania. It is separated from all other species of the genus by its smooth grey thallus, innate apothecia with a white margin, ±un-branched paraphyses, and large, eumuriform, pigmented ascospores. Rhizocarpon clausum (C.Knight) Za...

Ten new species in nine different genera are described from the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas): Bryonora granulata with a finely granular thallus containing perlatolic acid; Bryoria mariensis, a terricolous species with norstictic acid and unusual cortex cells; Carbonea hypopurpurea with a K+ purple hypothecium and a thallus containing confluent...

It has been suggested that the absence of anthraquinones is not a synapomorphic character, but appears independently in unrelated lineages of Teloschistaceae . We analyzed ITS nrDNA regions in species of the genus Caloplaca and present evidence for five such examples: the Caloplaca cerina group, C. obscurella , the C. servitiana group, the C. xeric...

The new species Calvitimela austrochilenis Fryday and Tephromela superba Fryday are described: the former from several collections from southern Chile and one from Marion Island, and the latter from southern South America (including the Falkland Islands), Campbell Island, (New Zealand), and Antarctica. Four new combinations are also made in Tephrom...

The species assigned to the genus Catillochroma are reassessed. The two characters used to characterize Catillochroma, exciple anatomy and thalline chemistry, are shown to be variable and contradictory with a number of intermediates. Consequently, Catillochroma is reduced to synonymy with Megalaria, and the species previously placed in Catillochrom...

Two species, Cliostomum coppinsii Fryday & Kantvilas sp. nov. from Scotland, and Cliostomum praepallidum (Mull. Arg.) Kantvilas & Fryday comb. nov. from Tasmania and southern South America, are described, illustrated and discussed. Both occupy an unusual position within the genus on account of their atypically wide, +/- polarilocular ascospores. Pa...

Acarospora asperata is placed in synonymy with A. obnubila. Chiodecton subochroleucum is placed in synonymy with Roccellina franciscana. Lecanora phaeophora is discussed. Catillaria atomarioides, Echinodiscus lesdainii, Stigmidium ramalinae, and Thalloloma cinnabarinum are reported new for North America.

Caloplaca lecanoroides, a corticolous sorediate species is described as new to science. The nomenclature and typification of Lecanora semitensis is discussed, a lectotype is selected and a brief treatment of the species is provided. Rhizocarpon bolanderi var. sulphurosum is raised to the species level as R. sulphurosum. Naetrocymbe saxicola is repo...

A total of 293 different lichens (and lichenicolous fungi) were found above an elevation of 884 m on Katahdin during fieldwork from 2000 to 2004 and from study of previously collected herbarium specimens. Thirteen of these are new to North America, 39 additional lichens are new to northeastern United States and 26 additional ones are new to Maine;...

Katahdin, the highest peak in Maine at 1606 m, has about 13 km2 (1300 ha) of alpine and subalpine tundra and krummholz on a summit plateau and in upper cirque basins. Lichens and bryophytes have been collected above tree line since the mid-19th century, but the cryptogam biota of the mountain has remained incompletely documented. For 16 days during...

An unexpected concentration of calcicole mosses and lichens has been discovered at and near a small spring seep on the granite headwall of the North Basin of Mt. Katahdin, Piscataquis County, Maine. Water samples from the spring were circumneutral and high in calcium ion content, whereas other springs, ponds, and streams on the mountain tested acid...

The new species, Fuscopannaria globigera Fryday & P. M. Jørg, is described, Catillaria jemtlandica is transferred to Megalaria with Lecidea sublimosa included as a synonym, and Pyrenocollema bryospilum is transferred to Collemopsidium. Epigloea medioincrassata and Lecidea haerjedalica are recorded for the first time from North America and Arthonia...

The lichen collection assembled by Dr. Henry Imshaug at the herbarium of Michigan State University (msc) is described. It is not only one of the largest in North America, but is notable also for its geographic range, including important collections from the Caribbean and several southern hemisphere island groups. Until recently this collection was...

The new species, Schaereria porpidioides, is described from collections made by H. A. Imshaug & R. C. Harris from the Falkland Islands in 1968. The systematic position of Schaereria, with respect to its relationship to Trapelia, is discussed.