Significant Records from the Lichen Flora of Southern Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Among the lichens of southern Ontario are three species new to the North American flora: Caloplaca velana (Massal.) Du Rietz, Rinodina efflorescens Malme, and Strangospora pi- nicola (Massal.) Korber. In addition, ten species are reported new to Canada, and 63 species are new to Ontario. Parmelia crinita fo. varians Merrill was found to be a synonym of Parmotrema subtinctorium. Although southern Ontario is the most populous part of Canada, the lichen flora of the region has not been well studied until recently. The scanty lit- erature dealing with the lichens in this region over the past century was reviewed by Wong and Brodo (1973). Since 1973, the only floristic papers dealing with southern Ontario were those by Brodo (198 1, 1988). These treatments of the lichens of the Ottawa Region, partly in Ontario and partly in Quebec, cover about 400 species. Of these, 277 are from the Ontario side of the Ottawa River, and a large per- centage of the remainder occur west of Ottawa in the richer part of the study area. A study of historical and recent collections from southern Ontario revealed a lichen flora consisting of 480 taxa in 131 genera (Wong & Brodo in prep.). Included in this number are three species not listed by Egan (1987, 1989) and which, presumably, are new to the North American lichen flora: Caloplaca velana (Massal.) Du Rietz, Rinodina efflorescens Malme, and Strangospora pinicola (Massal.) K6r- ber. In addition, Arthonia byssacea (Weigel) Almq., A. diffusella Fink in Hedr., Bacidia circumspecta (Nyl. ex Vainio) Malme, Biatora epixanthoides (Nyl.) Diederich, Cryptolechia carneolutea (Turner) Mas- sal., Gyalecta truncigena (Ach.) Hepp, Parmotrema margaritatum (Hue) Hale, P. subtinctorium (Zahlbr.) Hale, Physconia kurokawae Kashiw., and Thelo- carpon superellum Nyl. appear to be new for Can- ada, and 63 species are new for Ontario. In this paper, we present a list of these 76 species and one additional significant record with comments on their distribution, abundance and, in many cases, their taxonomy.