South Ural is aterritory with aunique geographical position and heterogeneous natural conditions. Unexplored biodiversity of the terrestrial cyanobacteria of this territory is very high. We undertook a fl oristic study covering all botanical-geographical zones of the Bashkiria and Bredinskiy district of the Chelyabinsk region. In atotal of 85 soil samples collected, 56 species of cyanobacteria were identifi ed. The number of cyanobacteria was highest in the boreal-forest zone (39 species) and notably lower in the other zones (18, 29, and 24 species for broad-leaved forest, forest steppe and steppe regions, respectively). Leptolyngbya voronichiniana, Leptolyngbya foveolarum,cf. Trichocoleus hospitus, Pseudophormidium hollerbachianum, Nostoc cf. punctiforme, Microcoleus vaginatus, Phormidium breve, Phormidium dimorphum, Phormidium corium,and Leptolyngbya cf. tenuis were detected in all studied zones. Trichormus variabilis and Cylindrospermum majus were detected in the forest zone, Phormidium ambiguum was typical for forest-steppe and steppe zones, Pseudophormidium hollerbachianum and Nostoc cf. commune were most abundant in the steppe. Humidity and heterogeneity of the substrate were likely the most important factors infl uencing terrestrial cyanobacteria diversity. For full understanding of the biodiversity of cyanobacteria in the South Urals, future molecular-genetic research is necessary. Bashkiria / Leptolyngbya / Oculatella / Phormidium /soil / Trichocoleus 85 samples of soil and microbiotic crusts from 12 localities were studied: 17 collected from boreal forests, 21 from broad-leaved forests, 29 from forest-steppes, and 18 from steppes (Table 1). Fig. 1. Terrestrial cyanobacteria of the South Ural region: map of the sampling sites. Boreal forest zone (A): 1-B eloretsk region, 2-n ear Pavlovka village; Broad-leaved forest zone (B): 3-B akaly, 4-I glino, 5-K rasnousolskiy; Forest-steppe zone (C): 6-n ear Dyurtyuli town, 7-n ear Tolbazy village, 8-e dge of Bolsheustikinskoye village, 9-n ear Georgievka village; Steppe zone (D) of Bashkiria and Bredinskiy district of Chelyabinsk region: 10-n ear Sibay town, 11-n ear Yangelskiy village, 12-near Arkaim monument. Synechococcales Pseudanabaenaceae Pseudanabaena papillaterminata (Kiselev) Kukk 1 Leptolyngbyaceae Leptolyngbya foveolarum (Rabenhorst ex Gomont) Anagnostidis &K omárek Leptolyngbya cf. fragilis (Gomont) Anagnostidis &K omárek Leptolyngbya cf. hansgirgiana Komárek in Anagnostidis Leptolyngbya cf. subtilissima (Kützing ex Hansgirg) Komárek in Anagnostidis 2 Leptolyngbya cf.t enuis (Gomont) Anagnostidis &K omárek Leptolyngbya cf. nostocorum (Bornet ex Gomont) Anagnostidis &K omárek Leptolyngbya сf. notata (Schmidle) Anagnostidis &K omárek 2 Leptolyngbya voronichiniana Anagnostidis &K omárek 6 55 Oculatella sp. 1 2 Oculatella sp. 2 2 Oculatella sp. 32 cf. Trichocoleus hospitus (Hansgirg ex Forti) Anagnostidis 6 44 Pleurocapsales Hyellaceae Myxosarcina cf. tatrica (Starmach) Komárek &Anagnostidis 1 Chroococcales Aphanothecaceae Aphanothece stagnina (Spreng.) A....