This study revises the cosmopolitan saxicolous lichen species of Rinodina (Ascomycetes) in Australia and New Zealand, including maritime southern South America and subantarctic islands, based on morphological, anatomical and molecular data. The cosmopolitan genus Rinodina used to comprise 200 species (Hawksworth et al. 1995). In the meantime, approximately 250 species are known (Kirk et al. 2001), which are widely distributed in both hemispheres, from (ant)arctic to tropical regions. 29 saxicolous species occur in Australia and New Zealand. We expand on the revision of saxicolous species of Rinodina (with exception of the xanthone containing species R. thiomela and R. xanthomelana with yellow thalli) in southern Africa, carried out by Matzer & Mayrhofer (1996). The genus Rinodina belongs to the Ascomycetes, the biggest fungus group worldwide, where the ascus represents the most important character. The usually lichen-forming order of the Lecanorales includes 40 families, being characterised by apothecial ascomata and very variable ascospores. Within the family of the Physciaceae nom. cons. (Eriksson et al. 2003), the large genus Rinodina is heterogeneous (e.g. Hafellner et al. 1979, Mayrhofer 1982) because of a multitude of ascospore types. Different ascus types were described by Rambold et al. (1994). In recent years these results are confirmed by molecular phylogenetic studies by Grube & Arup (2001) and Helms et al. (2003).weiterlesen