Known and expected lichen diversity in Brazil with special emphases on Trypetheliaceae

Andre Aptroot (Soest, Niederlande): Lichen diversity is often thought to be highest in arctic or alpine regions, but local diversity in the tropics can be high, with nearly 200 species occurring on one tree and nearly 100 on one leaf. Even though the country has only low mountains, Brazil may be the country with the highest lichen diversity. 3900 species are currently known, a number that is raised by 100-200/year in recent years. Families with many species in Brazil are Graphidaceae, Parmeliaceae, Trypetheliaceae, Arthoniaceae, Pyrenulaceae and Porinaceae. Trypetheliaceae are an example of a lichen family with the highest known diversity in Brazil. A predictive method taking into account e.g. habitat variation and collection effort predicts that the Amazonan basin still yields many undiscovered species. Even though the number of known Trypetheliaceae has doubled in recent years, it is still expected that only half of the species are actually known. Of course all this depends on species delimitation in the group too.