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Mycotaxon 110 Book Reviews ... 545
Foliicolous species belong to various higher taxonomic units of lichenized
fungi, and systematically are very diverse. Of the more than 800 species so
far described, 616 are found in the Neotropics. These are treated here in a
systematic order, but an alphabetical index of scientific names of taxa is added.
A large proportion of the species known in the world today are included in the
artificial keys, and further natural keys to higher taxonomic units are provided.
Although not all species known worldwide are included in the keys, material
outside the Neotropics is considered when characterising their ecology and
distribution. Furthermore, descriptions of orders, families, and genera are based
on all members of the group, even including non-foliicolous representatives.
The number of infraspecific taxa used and newly described in the monograph
is relatively high compared to the usual number in recent treatments. However,
one must agree with the author – who regards them as a temporary position
for these particular taxa – that more information is required to justify the
real taxonomic rank of many. There are an enormous number of taxonomic
novelties published in the volume, including new taxa, combinations, and
synonymies. There is a numerical list of taxa (pp. 819–829) amongst which
are the new family Lyrommataceae and four new genera, Baflavia, Brasilicia,
Eugeniella, and Phyllogyalidea. The first three of these genera originate from
the former Bacidia s. lat., while Phyllogyalidea is separated from Gyalidea s. lat.
A new section, Badimia sect. Pseudogyalecta, is also established. No fewer than
60 new species and 13 new infraspecific taxa are also described here for the
first time, and 35 new combinations are also made – and not all for taxa which
occur in the neotropics. The name Strigula tremens is also reintroduced, and
ten new taxonomic synonymies established amongst which are three recently
described names.
As the new taxa are deposited in several herbaria (including private herbaria)
of the world, it would have been convenient to have a list of these (perhaps with
information as to their accessibility) in the chapter on Materials.
A review would not be complete without mentioning some details that
could have been improved. It was difficult to find any such matters in this
case, but perhaps it is worth mentioning that coloured photographs would
have been highly appreciated by lichenologists instead of only half-tone black
and whites. Foliicolous lichens, as many other lichens, are very colourful, and
although half-tones show their great diversity of form, the diversity represented
in their colours is missing. This is particularly so as colours can contribute to
the successful identification of species. The drawings have been executed with
great care, but unfortunately are not all are in the same style. In particular, some
of the sketches look very different from others (e.g. spore illustrations) – most
probably because the lines are thicker on the sketches (e.g. Figs 26 and 29) than
on the other figures. A great advantage for comparisons is that the scale for