Publications on the lichens of Alaska go back 182 years, but a modern, comprehensive review of literature on the diversity of Alaskan lichens has been lacking. The authors present a compendium of 2,126 accepted taxa fully referenced with published reports from Alaska and their exact localities.
Of these 2,126 taxa, 1827 are lichen fungi, 277 are lichen-associated fungi and 22 are putatively saprotrophic fungi usually treated in lichenological studies. Nearly half of all species have been first reported since 1997. A total of 1,594 names are treated as synonyms or misapplications, and 140 further taxa are excluded as erroneous or doubtful.
Introduction 5
Alaskan geography and recent history 5
A brief history of lichenological studies in Alaska 6
Major Alaskan lichen collectors and the herbaria where their collections reside 13
Diversity of Alaskan lichens and associated fungi 20
Current names in use, described from Alaska 22
Taxonomy and nomenclature 26
Synonyms and misapplied names 28
How literature records were screened and treated 29
Conventions, symbols, explanations, abbreviations 30
Acknowledgments 31
Catalog of accepted taxa and their synonyms 33
Appendix A. Excluded and doubtful taxa 454
Appendix B. Nomenclatural notes 468
References 472