A key to the lichens of Terra Nova Bay (Victoria Land, Continental Antarctica)

After a brief summary of precious Italian lichenological research in Antart ica, a key is provided for the identification of the 57 species of lichens and lichenicolous fungi which were hitherto recorded form the Terra Nova Ba y area (Victoria Land, Continental Antarctica). The key is based on the ana lysis of the samples collected during the Italian Antarctic expeditions, an d preserved in the TSB lichen herbarium. Due to the high incidence of broad -ranging, often bipolar or subcosmopolitan species, the lichen flora of the survey area seems to be a young one, which mainly originated by long-dista nce dispersal in the Quaternary period.