Thelenella tropica, a pyrenocarpous lichen is described as new to science from India. It was collected from Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh. The new species is characterized by corticolous habitat, pertusarioid perithecia, oblong ellipsoid, muriform, I-, KI-, hyaline, 52-65 & times; 18-23 & micro;m ascospores. An updated world key to the corticolous species of Thelenella is also provided.

A new species of lichen, Japewia indica sp. nov., is described from temperate forests of Munsiyari, Uttarakhand, India. The new taxon is characterised by a thin, yellowish-green thallus with blastidia, sessile black apothecia, and broadly ellipsoid to globose, multilayered ascospores. The species is morphologically related to Japewia subaurifera due to the size of its ascospores. Detailed morphological, anatomical and chemical analyses confirm its novelty. Comparisons with all four previously known Japewia species are provided. A worldwide key to the genus is provided to facilitate accurate identification. The genus is first generic record for Indian lichen biota.

The paper enumerates a total of 68 species of lichens belonging to 31 genera and 19 families from the state of Punjab, of these Chaenotheca brunneola and Phaeophyscia insignis are new records for Indian lichen biota. The study utilizes visual aids such as a heatmap with dendrogram, depicting the presence or absence of lichen species and families across different districts of Punjab. A polar heatmap with dendrogram illustrates the distribution of lichen taxa across these districts, while a pie chart with distinct radius spokes showcases the presence of lichen taxa within different elevation ranges. In the present study an attempt has been made to provide a comprehensive checklist of lichens from Punjab along with the identification key and detailed description of new records.

A saxicolous species of Chiodecton and two corticolous species of Enterographa are described as new to science. Chiodecton submontanum is characterized by a saxicolous habitat, irregularly verrucose thallus, inspersed hymenium, ascospores usually exceeding 50 mu m in length with 6-10 septa and the presence of roccellic acid. Enterographa sparrii has immersed, perithecioid ascomata in indistinct to slightly raised pseudostromata, 40-55 mu m long ascospores with 6-9 septa and contains roccellic acid. Enterographa subcaudata has immersed, more or less round ascomata with a black disc, 35-58 mu m long ascospores with 6-12(-15) septa and schizopeltic acid in its chemistry. Additionally, an identification key to the members of Roccellaceae reported so far from India is provided.

The Earth continually receives natural sunlight consisting of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and ultraviolet radiation (UVR) emitted from the Sun, which strongly impacts lichens. UVR tolerance in lichens has rarely been explored. Therefore, this current study sought to evaluate the physiological and biochemical effects of UVR in the epiphytic lichens Xanthoria candelaria and Xanthoria elegans. There was a significant rise in parietin content when subjected to PAR + UV-A + UV-B (PAB) irradiations. The lichens' thalli exposed to PAB radiation substantially reduced photosynthetic performance and chlorophyll (Chl) concentration. In X. candelaria (thalli having less parietin content), UVR had a detrimental impact on the amount of photosynthetic pigment and Chl fluorescence. Thus, it was concluded that in X. elegans, the layer of parietin functions as a natural barrier, which reduces UVR exposure to algal cells. Furthermore, the ergosterol content decreased, and the thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances content increased. These findings suggest that a major contributing component of UVR-induced cell membrane damage is the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Lichens develop robust antioxidant defences against ROS-induced oxidative stress, comprising several antioxidant substances such as carotenoids and enzymes, including catalase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and ascorbate peroxidase. Based on the findings of this research, we can conclude that parietin might be essential for the sustainable existence of the studied lichens under harsh environmental conditions, including intense solar irradiance.

The lichen genus Bagliettoa A. Massal. is being reported for the first time from India, represented by B. baldensis (A. Massal.) Vězda, B. calciseda (DC.) Gueidan & Cl. Roux, and B. limborioides A. Massal. Previously, specimens belonging to this genus were erroneously identified as species of Awasthiella and Verrucaria at herbarium LWG. Detailed descriptions, illustrations, notes on distribution and ecology, and a comparison with related species are provided along with a key to facilitate their identification.

Lichens are sensitive indicators of changes in climatic condition of an area at both micro and macro scales. The present study analyzes the lichen diversity change in the last forty years compared with the temporal trends of meteorological conditions in arid region of India. The available herbarium records of lichen diversity of the year 1975 when compared with fresh lichen collection of 2015 revealed substantial change in the species composition and richness of the certain individual species and communities. A positive shift in species composition of thermophilous and poleotolerant species indicates steady change in the species composition. Significant increase in member of the lichen family Physciaceae has been observed which may correlate with the rise in temperature. The carbon isotope ratio technique has been applied to investigate eco-physiological changes at temporal scale. Carbon stable isotope data indicated shift of δ13C values from − 27.65‰ to − 19.24‰ (r = − 0.9958) reflecting significant change in carbon fixation in the species. The strong shift in δ13C values is may be due to change in photosynthetic pathway indicating probable change from C3 pathway, which indicates adaptation of lichens toward changing water regimes and carbon dioxide consumption pattern in drier climatic conditions.

A survey of the lichen genus Pseudopyrenula in India is presented, with morphotaxonomic accounts of all six accepted species. Two species, P. himalayana and P. megaspora, are new to science. Both species resemble P. staphyleae but have a lichenized thallus and eccentric ostiole. Furthermore, P. himalayana differs from P. staphyleae in having immersed perithecia and narrower ascospores, while P. megaspora differs in the larger ascospores. Detailed descriptions of the new species are presented, together with notes on their chemistry, distribution, ecology and taxonomy. A key to all known species of Pseudopyrenula from India is also presented.

Phyllopsora phaeophysciae sp. nov., having a lichenicolous habitat is growing on thallus of lichen Phaeophyscia and distinguished by white prothallus, globose to cylindrical isidia and thallus containing atranorin. Based on the previously published literature, Phylloposra species mostly reported to grow on bark, rock, soil and sometimes in association of mosses, however the new taxa is exhibit a unique lichenicolous habitat, luxuriantly growing on Phaeophyscia hispidula species in temperate region the country. In India, this is the first Phyllopsora species which is growing on Physciaceae family member.

The present study recorded 18 species including four new records of the genus viz. Phaeophyscia hirtuosa (Kremp.) Essl., P. laciniata Essl., P. nashii Essl., and P. rubropulchra (Degel.) Essl., for Indian lichen biota. Out of 18 species of Phaeophyscia reported from India the northern region of the country showed rich diversity of Phaeophyscia species represented by 15 species followed by eastern and southern region with 9 and 6 species respectively. Phaeophyscia hispidula is the dominant species.

Six taxa of lichens under order Arthoniales namely Arthonia stellaris, Arthonia varia var. stenographella, Dirina immersa, Lecanographa lyncea, Leprantha cinereopruinosa and Paralecanographa grumulosa are reported as new distributional records to India. Leprantha and Paralecanographa are also new genera record for India. A comprehensive key for all Indian species across the genera covered in this paper is also provided.

Three species of the genus Psora are recognized in India including Psora crenata (Taylor) Reinke, P. decipiens (Hedw.) Hoffm. and P. himalayana (C. Bab.) Timdal. Among them, P. crenata is described as a new record to the lichen biota of India. Descriptions, illustrations and distributions are provided for each species together with a key to all species of Psora known from India.

Two species of lichenicolous fungi viz. Didymocyrtis cladoniicola (Diederich, Kocourk. and Etayo) Ertz and Diederich, and Epicladonia simplex D. Hawksw., inhabiting Cladonia species are discovered as new records for India, besides four species known earlier from India. Cladonia, a dimorphic genus is one of the most suitable hosts for the fungal spores to colonize easily for the growth of lichenicolous fungi. The brief taxonomic descriptions of species, distribution and illustrations are provided to facilitate their identification.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of lichens collected from Himalaya and to analyze their phytochemicals. Twelve species of lichens investigated in the present study are Cladonia rangiferina, Everniastrum cirrhatum, Flavoparmelia caperata, Lobaria retigera, Nephromopsis nephromoides, Parmotrema nilgherrense, Ramalina conduplicans, Ramalina sinensis, Stereocaulon foliolosum, Usnea longissima, Usnea orientalis and Usnea pangiana. The metabolites of lichens were extracted from acetone, ethyl acetate, chloroform and methanol solvents. The antimicrobial activities were tested against bacteria and fungi at 2 mg/ml concentration. The most active acetone and chloroform extracts of R. conduplicans showed the highest inhibition zone of 22.7 ± 0.2 and 23.3 ± 0.2 mm respectively against Acinetobacter baumannii. The methanol extract of U. longissima showed the maximum inhibitory activity (15.2 ± 2.5 mm) against P. aeruginosa. The principal component analysis of different lichen extracts complimented the result observed for antibacterial activities for various extracts. Usnea longissima showed strong antioxidant activity with IC50 of free radical scavenging activities 116.24 ± 1.8 µg/ml. The Usnea species exhibited the maximum contents of phytochemicals that may be responsible for antioxidant activities. Acetone and chloroform extracts of R. conduplicans and methanol extract of U. longissima were subjected to GC–MS. In the present study, GC–MS revealed that 4,6-diamino-O-cresol was at highest concentration of 75.37

A new species Anisomeridium subphaeospermum is described and illustrated in the present article from Uttar Pradesh, India. It is characterized by a UV- (Negative) thallus, 8-spored asci, biseriate, brown, transversally 1septate and broadly elliptical ascospores. Additionally, 6 species namely A. adnexum, A. americanum, A. quaternarium, A. subnectendum, A. tuckerae and A. uniseriale are reported as new records for Indian lichen biota along with a key of 26 species of the genus currently known from India.

The present study aims to signify the role of Pyxine cocoes (Sw.) Nyl. (P. cocoes) as cadmium (Cd) biomonitor in atmosphere. This was achieved by quantifying the amount of Cd accumulated in transplanted P. cocoes, when stimulated with known concentrations of Cd (5µM, 50µM, 100µM, 150µM and 200µM) at increasing intervals of time up-to 40 days. All the five concentrations exhibited increasing trend of accumulation with time. As depicted by Pearson’s Correlation (at p < 0.001), anti-oxidative enzymes (superoxide dismutase r= -0.812, ascorbate peroxidase r= -0.802, catalase r= -0.757) and electrical conductivity (r = 0.693) were the most efficient parameters to depict increased Cd presence in atmosphere. In the current study, accumulation of Cd by transplanted lichen has been first time analyzed by biosorption kinetics. The uptake of Cd by P. cocoes followed pseudo-second-order kinetics (range of R22 value was 0.969–0.998). The marker parameters in combination with the ability to accrue Cd fortifies P. cocoes’s role as a biomonitor.

Lichens have prolonged history as excellent biomonitors of air pollutants and their responses are documented in climate change assessment. Lichen species composition within a community and change in composition are powerful tools to retrieve information about changes in climate, air quality and biological processes in the area. In this study, the composition of lichen communities in sub-alpine (3000-3500 m), moist alpine scrub (3500-4000 m) and dry alpine scrub (4000-4500 m) of Indian alpine Himalayan regions has been documented. A total of 18 bioindicator lichen communities are recorded which comprised 732 species under 148 genera and 47 families. Among different indicator communities, Parmelioid dominates the areas followed by Lecanorioid, Dimorphic and Physcioid communities represented by 185, 87, 71 and 64 species, respectively. It is assumed that Cyanophyceans are the most sensitive communities distributed at the middle range of altitude between 3000 and 4000 m in the studied areas. Furthermore, substratum and growth form also played a significant role in the assessment of varied environmental conditions. This study provides a baseline data about potential taxa having higher sensitivity to change in climate and which may exhibit migration, adaptation, and acclimation, in the near future.

The terricolous lichen communities in lowlands occur especially in open, dry habitats and are often dominated by species of the genus Cladonia belonging to the family Cladoniaceae. The family is precisely variable in morphology, reproduction strategies, and secondary metabolites. The Indian Himalayan regions exhibit the occurrence of 67 species of terricolous communities represented by four genera, of which 42 species in the Cladonioid community have fumarprotocetraric acid. The fumarprotocetraric acid-containing species have special traits; they prefer to grow on soil, dead decaying wood, and soil over rocks. A primary squamulose thallus, microsquamules present or absent on podetial, scyphae with brown or red brown, and hymenium disc are the main traits. The objective of the present study is to determine the structure and composition of the lichen family Cladoniaceae in six Himalayan states of India, together with a comparative assessment of functional traits varied in different habitats together with metabolites. The qualitative assessment of secondary metabolites will also serve as a baseline for the development of green medicines in the near future by the biotechnological applications.

The higher eastern Himalayan regions of India exhibit the luxuriance of different lichen taxa together with other group of plants. The“Punpun” is a common name of lichens used by the Sherdukpen tribe of West Kameng District of Arunachal Pradesh in Eastern IndianHimalayan regions. The punpun or lichens are gorgeous in nutrients and contains biologically active compounds belonging to variouschemical clades. The tribal people have gigantic traditional knowledge about lichens thus allowing them to use different types oflichens to fulfil their dietary need along with medicinal prospects. The present information was collected during the field visit to thearea between the years 2017-2021. The tribal people in the area prepared some delicious diets from the punpun and served as nutritiveethnic food to tourists visiting there. Though tribal people have great knowledge of lichen uses, but they lack the acquaintance ofappropriate species proficiency. The tribal people provided the detailed methodologies and application of lichens which may be usefulin near future for bioprospection and herbal drug development. The present case study is presented with an aim to encourage thetribal people to investigate further applications of lichens to improve the life of surronding inhabitants and to make them aware of theimportance and conservation of lichen species.

The genus Phaeorrhiza H. Mayrhofer and Poelt is recorded for the first time from India, which is represented by P. nimbosa (Fr.) H. Mayrhofer and Poelt, and P. sareptana var. sphaerocarpa (Th. Fr.) H. Mayrhofer and Poelt. The taxa are found growing in the alpine region of north-western Himalaya. A detailed description is provided along with figures to facilitate easy identification.