Lichens in Chambal Ravines, India with New Distributional Records

The Chambal ravines are situated within the catchment basin of the Chambal River, along the borders of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The rugged topography, degraded land and arid conditions in the ravines are unsuitable for growth of most of the plants. From such an unfavourable environment we report occurrence of 19 species of lichens belonging to nine genera. Among them Heppia adglutinata (from Uttar Pradesh) and Lichinella americana (from Rajasthan) are new distributional records for India. Further, Catapyrenium squamulosum is new for Madhya Pradesh, Lichinella flexa and Heppia solorinoides are new to Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh respectively. Lichinella americana is also being reported for the first time from Asia. The lichen biota of the ravines is dominated by squamulose forms and ones having cyanobacterial photobiont. Among three states Rajasthan represented maximum number of lichens with 14 species, followed by Madhya Pradesh 10 and Uttar Pradesh 9 species.