This paper describes three species of Herpothallon new to science from southern China: H. glaucescens, H. lilacinum and H. tomentosum. The three species all possess a non-pigmented thallus, hypothallus and prothallus. Herpothallon glaucescens has a white, whitish grey to greyish green thallus and swollen, subglobose to ± vermiform pseudisidia, rounded at the top. Herpothallon lilacinum has subglobose or irregularly cushion-shaped, fluffy-felty pseudisidia, white at the base, lilac to lilac grey at their tips. Herpothallon tomentosum has globular pseudisidia, felty with many projecting hyphae, sometimes containing a central pycnidium. Detailed descriptions for all three new species are provided with an updated key to the genus Herpothallon in China. Additionally, a phylogenetic tree based on Bayesian and ML analyses of mtSSU data shows the position of the new species in Herpothallon. Keywords: Arthoniaceae, byssoid thalli, sterile lichens, taxonomy, mtSSU.