Ramalina santanensis A. Morales & V. Marcano

Marcano, Vicente, Méndez, Antonio Morales & Prü, Ernesto Palacios, 2021, The genus Ramalina Acharius (Ascomycota, Lecanoromycetes, Ramalinaceae) in northern South America, Phytotaxa 504 (1), pp. 1-77 : 58

40. Ramalina santanensis A. Morales & V. Marcano

The Bryologist 97: 31 (1994) . Type:― VENEZUELA. Falcón: Península de Paraguaná, Cerro Santa Ana , 400–600 m, 12 November 1985, A. Morales 112 (holotype MERF!).

Thallus saxicolous or terricolous, caespitose, intricately branched, erect to subpendulous, up to 2 cm long, without distinct, delimited holdfast. Branches pale yellow, subshiny, knotty, subterete to terete (Fig. 3), 0.35–0.45 mm wide. Pseudocyphellae lateral or laminal, ellipsoid, irregularly distributed (Fig. 8), sometimes developing into perforations. Soralia not seen. Cortical tissue paraplectenchymatous, 12–14 μm thick. Peripheral chondroid tissue discontinuous, up to 42 μm thick. Medulla dense. Pycnidia not seen. Apothecia lateral, subapical, discs flat, 3.8–4.0 mm diameter. Ascospores very short, ellipsoid, 7–8 x 3–4.5 um.

Chemistry (TLC, HPTLC): Salazinic acid.

Ecology and distribution: Ramalina santanensis is known only from the type locality, where it was abundant on soil and rocks. It is found in dry forests at 400–600 m (Fig. 30). It is known only from northeast Venezuela .

Remarks: Ramalina santanensis is a rare species distinguished from all other species by the knotty surface and small spore size. Ramalina santanensis somewhat resembles R. nodosa Krog & Østhagen (1978: 55) , known only from the Canary Islands (Krog & Østhagen 1980). However, R. santanensis bears discontinuous chondroid cylinder; pseudocyphellae; knotty branches; and contains salazinic acid, while R. nodosa has a continuous chondroid cylinder; numerous and conspicuous nodules; lacks pseudocyphellae; and contains sekikaic and divaricatic acids.

Additional specimens examined: VENEZUELA. Falcón. Península de Paraguaná, Cerro Santa Ana, 1979, Lopez-Figueiras 19379–B ( MERF) .