Author Description

This is monograph 103 in the Flora Neotropica series and is the winner of the Societe de Physique et d-Histoire Naturelle de Geneve (SPHN) 2008 Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle Prize for best monograph. Foliicolous Lichenized Fungi treats an enigmatic group of organisms: lichens that grow on living leaves of vascular plants in tropical rainforests of the New World. It covers more than 600 species in over 70 genera, 23 families, and eight orders, about 70% of all species occurring world wide. Leaf-dwelling lichens are unusual in that they are small and have have very short life-cycles, and representatives can be found in almost all major lineages of lichenized fungi. Up to 50 species can be found on a single leaf the size of a hand, and up to 300 species within a hectare of tropical rainforest. No other lichen group exhibits such extraordinary diversity. All taxa are keyed out and each species is treated in detail, including photographic illustrations and line drawings. The book features a