Checklist of the Lichens of Australia and its Island Territories

Updated 7 March 2023

Also available:

NEW in 2018: National Species List (NSL) for Lichens and Lichenicolous Fungi - the checklist contained in an online searchable database (Also updated 17 May 2018)
Lichen drawings [mostly Australian]
PHOTOGRAPHS: Lichens of the Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra | Lichens of Magnetic Island, Queensland | Lichens of East Kimberley, Western Australia | Lichens of Morton National Park, New South Wales | Lichens of Orange and Dubbo, New South Wales | Some alpine lichens from the Australian Capital Territory
Lichens albums by Richard Droker [Superb photos, mainly North American, but many of the species and most genera also occur in Australia]
Australian Lichens [An introduction by Heino Lepp (ANBG)]
SLIDE SHOW: 130 Australian lichens [11 MB]
NEW in 2018: Key to Buellioid Lichens in Australia (J.A.Elix)
The Lichen Genus Verrucaria in Australia (P.M.McCarthy)
Pertusaria (Lichenised Ascomycota) in Australia (A.W.Archer)
Australian Physciaceae (J.A.Elix)
Checklist of Australian Lichenicolous Fungi (P.M.McCarthy; updated 10 December 2015) | Checklist of Pacific Island Lichens (J.A.Elix & P.M.McCarthy)
Catalogue of Porinaceae (P.M.McCarthy) | Catalogue of Strigulaceae (P.M.McCarthy)
Australasian Lichenology: publication of the Australasian Lichen Society (1997–) | Other links [journals, databases, societies, other checklists, etc.]

J.A. Elix, A Catalogue of Standardized Chromatographic Data and Biosynthetic Relationships for Lichen Substances. Sixth Edition. Published by the author, Canberra (2022). Download pdf — 2.2 MB

Miscellaneous Photographs (2010–2014)

Oceanic Islands | References

The lichen flora of Australia and its island territories includes 4088 species and infra-specific taxa in 502 genera; 1495 taxa are thought to be endemic. The six States, together with the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, have 3858 taxa; 1370 are currently endemic. Australian oceanic islands in the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans support 662 taxa; 84 are endemic.

This checklist has links to more than 2000 illustrations, mostly colour photographs by Bill Malcolm, Alan Archer, Jack Elix and Neil McCracken, photographs and line-art by Pat McCarthy, and habit and anatomical photographs by Armin Mangold. Click on the camera icons or hyperlinks to view the images. In addition, there are links to about 2200 taxon descriptions, many with distribution maps. The checklist also contains more than 3100 nomenclatural and taxonomic synonyms and names that have been misapplied to Australian specimens.

Keys

Key to the Genera of Australian Lichens: Apothecial Crusts. Lumbsch et al. (2001; out of print).
Key to the Genera of Crustose Pyrenocarpous Lichens in Australia. McCarthy (2001l).
Key to the Genera of Australian Macrolichens. McCarthy & Malcolm (2004) [pdf]

Cladia retipora © Bill Malcolm 2004

States, territories and oceanic islands	Abbreviation	Taxa	Endemic
Australian Capital Territory	ACT	543	15
Christmas Island	CI	119	8
Heard Island	HI	110	12
Lord Howe Island	LHI	226	30
Macquarie Island	MI	142	20
New South Wales	NSW	1809	155
Norfolk Island	NI	211	11
Northern Territory	NT	347	23
Queensland	QLD	2042	298
South Australia	SA	678	36
Tasmania	TAS	1368	170
Victoria	VIC	1120	46
Western Australia	WA	768	85

Symbols

* Accepted name based on an Australian type specimen

[*] Taxonomic synonym based on an Australian type specimen

Cite as ...

McCarthy, P.M. (2023), Checklist of the Lichens of Australia and its Island Territories.
Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. Version 7 March 2023.
http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/lichenlist/introduction.html

Acknowledgements

I am especially grateful to the late Lyn Jessup for preparing the keys for online delivery, redesigning the site and teaching me how to maintain it. I also thank Alan Archer, Louise Biggs, Alan Bolin, Ian Cresswell, Rex Croft, Judith Curnow, Richard Droker, Jack Elix, Andreas Frisch, Christy Geromboux, Cécile Gueidan, Robert Ingram, Gintaras Kantvilas, Paul Kirk, Brigitte Kuchlmayr, Naomi Lawrence, Robyn Lawrence, Simone Louwhoff, Thorsten Lumbsch, Bill Malcolm, Armin Mangold, Tom May, Helmut Mayrhofer, Neil McCracken, Roland Moberg, Paul Murray, Dag Øvstedal, Laurens Sparrius, Val Stajsic, Alice Wells and Greg Whitbread.

Patrick M. McCarthy
c/- Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS), GPO Box 3090, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
Email: abrs@dcceew.gov.au

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