Ramalina canaguensis var. mucumpisensis V. Marcano & A. Morales, 2021

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 : 35

4. Ramalina canaguensis var. mucumpisensis V. Marcano & A. Morales var. nov.

Thallus ut in Ramalina canaguensis var. canaguensis sed acidum hypoprotocetraricum et substantia triterpenoidea continente differt. Type.― VENEZUELA. Mérida: La Culata Massif, near Mucumpis and Paramo Mifafí , 1700 m, V. Marcano, A. Morales & R. Vidal 7207

( holotype VEN, isotype herb. lich. V. Marcano) .

Chemistry (TLC, HPTLC): Strain 1. Hypoprotocetraric acid and triterpenoids (Marcano et al. 7280). Strain 2. Hypoprotocetraric and protocetraric (tr.) acids (Aguirre & Sipman 5276–F).

Ecology and distribution: Ramalina canaguensis var. mucumpisensis occurs on bark or decorticated wood of trunks, canopy branches and twigs in very moist rain forests and subparamo at 1700–3400 m. It is only known from northern South America ( Colombia and Venezuela).

Remarks: Ramalina canaguensis var. mucumpisensis shows similar morphological characteristics to R.canaguensis var. canaguensis ( Marcano & Morales 1993a) . but differs in containing triterpenoids and hypoprotocetraric acid. Both varieties possess a smooth upper surface (Fig. 24) with elliptical or linear pseudocyphellae and a micro-filamentose apothecial upper surface (Fig. 28). Ramalina canaguensis var. mucumpisensis exhibits two chemical strains, both of which contain substance hypoprotocetraric acid as the major secondary metabolite.

The name of the variety refers to the type locality.

Additional specimens examined: COLOMBIA: Cundinamarca: Municipio Supatá, Alto El Tablazo, along track from radar station to Supatá , 3400 m, 11–12 September 1984, J. Aguirre & H. J. Sipman 5276–F (B) . VENEZUELA: Mérida: La Culata Massif, near Mucumpis and Paramo Mifafí , 2800–3000 m, V . Marcano, A. Morales et R . Vidal 7280 (herb. lich. V. Marcano, VEN) .