Table of Contents

A random monitoring of Buxbaumia viridis was carried out throughout the territory of the Calabria region by exploring river courses, rivulets, river escarpments, forests with long ecological continuity to assess the species abundance and ecological characteristics. The species has been found at 94 sites with a total 1027 capsule-inclusive sporophytes and 286 capsule-free setae, 2 sites with both protonema and vegetative propagules and one site with only the protonema. Historical overview and ecological evaluation of the species are given.

Some samples collected in Liguria by Camillo Sbarbaro and identified as Acarospora crozalsii, a species which in the past was often synonymised with A. complanata, were analysed. The species, for which a description is provided, is a Mediterranean silicicolous lichen, known from North Africa (Algeria), southern France and Italy. It differs from the similar A. helvetica in the euamyloid hymenial gel and the thinner parathecium, and should be re-instated in the list of lichens known from Italy.

The utilisation of citizen science initiatives has become an increasingly essential tool for biodiversity monitoring. Despite this, concerns persist regarding the quality and validation of the data collected. This study presents an approach to integrating citizen science observations with the expertise of bryophyte taxonomy, resulting in the identification of Asterella africana, a rare thalloid liverwort, at its northernmost distribution in Europe. The discovery was facilitated by a digital image submitted to iNaturalist and an identification key based solely on vegetative traits. This novel discovery serves to illustrate the significance of naturalistic social network in elucidating biodiversity patterns, even in the case of taxonomically challenging organisms that are possibly expanding in a warming climate.

New data relating to populations of Cladonia L. subgenus Cladina are presented for the purposes of updating the distribution of species of community interest.