Abstract:

The Greater and Lesser Khinggan Mountains of Northeast China is one of the important distribution areas of lichens in China, where is rich in lichen biodiversity. 259 lichen specimens deposited in herbariums and freshly-collected from 31 nature reserves, were examined comprehensively considering morphology, anatomy, chemistry and DNA sequences. We identified and reported 31 species belonging to 11 cetrarioid and hypogymnioid genera of Parmeliaceae in this paper, including 13 species of circumpolar element, 11 species endemic to East Asia, three cosmopolitan species, three species endemic to China, and one species of Eurasian element. A comparison with the previous records of distribution for lichens in the region shows that six species belonging to two genera were not rediscovered in current study, implying a great reduction or even a possible retreat of distribution for these lichens, especially two species endemic to Asia, i.e. Hypogymnia farinacea and H. nikkoensis, no additional specimen information has been added for more than 30 years since they were initially reported from the Greater and Lesser Khinggan Mountains as new record to China, and H. nikkoensis has been estimated to be Vulnerable (VU) in the recent red list assessment of Chinese macrofungi.

Key words: the Greater and Lesser Khinggan Mountains, cetrarioid, hypogymnioid, lichen, distribution