First records and noteworthy lichens and lichenicolous fungi from the Harz and the northern prae-Harz (Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony)

In total 56 taxa, including 51 lichens, three lichenicolous fungi and two saprophytic fungi, are dealt with. Micarea nigella, collected in Lower Saxony, is new to Germany. Records of the following 16 species are new to Saxony-Anhalt: Agonimia flabellifonnis, A. globulifera, Arthonia didyma, Arthopyrenia fraxini, A. salicis, Buellia epigaea, Dactylospora saxatilis, Fuscidea lygaea, Helocarpon pulverulum, Melanohalea elegantula, Pertusaria coronata, Pycnora sorophora, Stigmidium eucline, Thelidium minutulurn, Trapeliopsis aeneofusca and Verrucaria floerkeana. Eight species represent important recollections after a long time, including four species, Lecidoma demissum, Montanelia panniformis, Ramalina fastigiata and Rhizocarpon hochstetteri, which have been assigned as extinct in the Red List of Saxony-Anhalt, Collema flaccidum and Naetrocymbe punctiformis are threatened with extinction, whereas Peltula euploca and Zwackhia viridis are absent in this list altogether. Furthermore, recent collections for 13 species are reported, including the second record of Steinia geophana from Saxony-Anhalt. Previous records of the species concerned date from a period before the turn of the millennium. Additional collections are listed for 11 species which have been newly reported or recollected in recent years, e.g. second collections of Cladonia polycarpoides and Frutidella pullata for Saxony-Anhalt. Aspilidea myrinii is new to Lower Saxony, Zwackhia viridis has been recollected after 150 years, and Cetrariella commixta is classified in Lower Saxony as extinct since 1958 although a herbarium specimen collected by H. Ullrich in 1988 have been traced, supplemented by two recent collections of this species. Recent collections are listed for six additional species that are very rare or even extremely rare in Lower Saxony.