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Fifty five species of lichens and lichenicolous fungi are reported from the Southern Ural (Republic of Bashkortostan and Chelyabinsk Region). Graphis betulina, Micarea micrococca, and Ramonia chrysophaea are reported for the first time in Russia. Abrothallus microspermus, Arthopyrenia grisea, Biatora pontica, Collema ligerinum, Puttea margaritella, Rinodina granulans, Rinodina malangica, Syzygospora physciacearum and Xylographa trunciseda are new to Ural Region. Calicium glaucellum, Chaenotheca gracillima, Microcalicium disseminatum, Parmeliella triptophylla, Ramalina obtusata and Sphaerellothecium reticulatum are new to Southern Ural. 21 species are new to the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Chelyabinsk Region, and 50 species are reported for the first time from the protected areas of the Southern Ural. Brief comments on the most interesting species and their ecology (habitat and substrate preferences) and chorology are given. Fig 1. Landscape around Nurgush Mountain range. Foto S. A. Gorodilov.

IntroductionDagestan is located in the Caucasus biodiversity hotspot. Nevertheless, in terms of lichenofloristic surveys, the Republic of Dagestan is one of the least-known parts of Russia and the Caucasus Mountains. Due to its diverse geomorphology and altitudinal range, it harbours a species-rich mosaic of vegetation ranging from xerophilous to alpine (e.g., mountainous dry pine forests, mesophytic deciduous forests, steppes, and semi-deserts). Vascular plants are rather well known and comprise approximately 3000 species, including 73 local endemics (Murtazaliev, 2008). However, only 63 lichen species (Barkhalov, 1983) were known before our investigations. In 2010 and 2011, an additional 81 species were reported from the Dagestan State Reserve and some areas of the Republic of Dagestan (Urbanavichus et al., 2010a, 2010b, 2010c. Due to the great diversity of habitat, a fairly high number of species can be expected to occur in Dagestan. The present paper adds further information to our knowledge of the lichen flora of Dagestan, the Caucasus Mountains, and Russia. Study areaAccording to the Floristic Division of the World (Takhtajan, 1986), Dagestan is located on the border between the Caucasian (Circumboreal Region) and Turanian (Irano-Turanian Region) floristic provinces, or, more broadly, the Boreal and Ancient Mediterranean floristic subkingdoms. The Caucasian province is more humid and the Turanian is more arid.The study area, the Gunib plateau, lies in the central part of inner-mountain limestone Dagestan, which is located in the north-east of the Greater Caucasus (Figure). It is situated at 42°24′N, 46°55′E at altitudes ranging from 1400 to 2351 m and has an area of approximately 1470 ha. This relief consists of strongly inclined dolomite and limestone layers dating from the Jurassic up to the Cretaceous periods. Siliceous rocks are absent from the plateau. External slopes are very steep from all sides (50°-70°) with numerous cliffs. The Gunibka River, with a canyon in the middle flow, runs through the plateau. Continental climate prevails in inner-mountain limestone Dagestan. The mean rainfall per year is 680 mm, and the highest precipitation occurs in June and July. The mean annual relative humidity is 65%, and the mean annual temperature is 6.7 °C. The mean annual maximum temperature is 16.5 °C (August), while the mean minimum temperature is -5.2 °C (January).Although the Gunib plateau is very small, it supports about 22% (approximately 660 species) of the Dagestani flora. Vegetation cover varies with altitude and exposure. Steep south-facing slopes ranging up to 1500-1600 m have petrophytic steppes with Artemisia spp., Salvia canescens

In recent years, several species that have long been considered to belong in Bacidia s. lat. have been transferred to other genera such as Bellicidia, Bibbya, Scutula, and also to Toniniopsis, accommodating species previously placed in Bacidia and Toninia. One of its widespread species, Toniniopsis subincompta, can be recognized by its thinly granular thallus, dark brown to black apothecia, green epithecium, red-brown hypothecium, and bacilliform ascospores. However, it shows considerable variation in thallus structure, and coloration of apothecia, hypothecium and exciple. We sequenced 20 specimens of T. subincompta to investigate whether there is phylogenetic support for the delimitation of species in accordance with the variability of the observed characters. For phylogenetic analyses, we used newly generated sequence data from the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (nrITS), mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU) and DNA-directed RNA polymerase II subunit (RPB2). Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses, as well as three species delimitation programs, provided consistent evidence that T. subincompta forms two separate lineages, to be recognized at the species level. The complex nomenclature of T. subincompta (basionym Lecidea subincompta) shows it to be a synonym of Bellicidia incompta. For the most common taxon previously called Bacidia (Toniniopsis) subincompta, the new combination T. separabilis is made, rather than proposing a conserved type for Lecidea subincompta. Toniniopsis dissimilis is newly described to accommodate the less common taxon. Toniniopsis dissimilis is characterized by a predominantly wrinkled to warted to subsquamulose thallus; generally grey-brown to dark brown apothecia, often with a lighter margin; a dark brown hypothecium, frequently gradually merging into the coloration of the exciple below and the lateral part of the exciple attached to the hymenium; a mostly colourless rim and lateral part of the exciple. The closely related T. separabilis is characterized by a thallus of mostly single or contiguous ±loose granules, often forming short, coralloid, isidium-like bulges; darker apothecia, with a margin mostly of the same colour or darker than the disc; a comparatively thinner hypothecium easily separated from the exciple below. The rim and lateral part of the exciple often contain either a blue, brown or mixed blue-brown colour in the upper part or along the whole margin. Lectotypes of Bacidia vegeta, Lecidea bacillifera f. melanotica and Secoliga atrosanguinea var. affinis (the synonyms of T. separabilis) are selected. Cyanotrophy and the occurrence of albino morphs in T. separabilis are discussed.