Ramalina crispans R.G. Werner, Scientific Annals of the School of Agriculture and Forestry, Aristotelian University, Thessaloniki IH' -B: 1 (1977).

Spjut, Richard, Simon, Antoine, Guissard, Martin, Magain, Nicolas & Serusiaux, Emmanuel, 2020, The fruticose genera in the Ramalinaceae (Ascomycota, Lecanoromycetes): their diversity and evolutionary history, MycoKeys 73, pp. 1-68 : 1

Ramalina crispans R.G. Werner, Scientific Annals of the School of Agriculture and Forestry, Aristotelian University, Thessaloniki IH' -B: 1 (1977). Fig. 12A, right-hand specimen

Type.

Morocco - Original publication reads "ad corticem Quercus suberus L. in Mamora silva prope Rabat" ( Werner 1977: 1); label reads as “Forêt de Mamora près Rabat, sur Quercus suber ", 01.02.1936 s.n. (BC! - holotype).

Description.

Thallus epiphytic, almost always on tiny branches, shrubby, usually rather small (less than 2-5 cm long), formed of densely intricate branches that are solid, slightly flattened and irregularly thickened; soralia conspicuous albeit quite small, granular, often with small fibrils; pseudocyphellae common, ellipsioid or linear; apothecia and pycnidia unknown.

Chemistry.

Acids in the sekikaic aggregate with sekikaic and homosekikaic acids as the main compounds detected; usnic acid.

Distribution and ecology.

Mediterranean area and Cabo Verde archipelago; assumed to be present in the Canary Islands, the Madeira archipelago and the Azores archipelago; on branches, including twigs, never found on trunks, in open shrubland.

Remarks.

This species was described as "spec. nova ad interim", an unclear status that could be questioned under the ICN code art. 34.1 (b). Nevertheless, we adopt it pending further nomenclatural clarification. Following Aptroot and Schumm (2008), this species would key out as R. peruviana Ach. This epithet is used for any densely branched, sorediate Ramalina producing sekikaic acid throughout the world ( Swinscow and Krog 1988 for tropical East Africa; Aptroot and Bungartz 2007 for the Galapagos Islands; Galloway 2007 for New Zealand; Aptroot and Schumm 2008 for North Atlantic Islands; Oh et al. 2014 for China). Ramalina peruviana Ach. is a validly published epithet and the original publication states "Habitat in Peruvia in confortito crefens …”. No material from Peru or surrounding countries that could match the original description was available for DNA analysis. Therefore, we choose to use the epithet introduced by R. G. Werner for Mediterranean material of corticolous Ramalina farinacea look-alikes and producing sekikaic acid. Our dataset shows that accession from Cape Verde and Greece are identical; we assume that reports from the archipelagoes of the Azores, Canary Islands and Madeira belong to the same species.

Additional specimens examined.

Cabo Verde archipelago - São Vicente, Monte Verde; assumed at 16°52.2'N, 024°56.0'W; alt. ca. 730 m; 04.2008; J. Lambinon 08/20 leg.; on shrubs (LG DNA 428); [DNA: GU726358 (LSU), GU827317 (ITS), MN757015 (RPB1), MN757230 (RPB2)]. Greece - Dodecanese, Karpathos Is., top of Mt Hagios Elias; 35°43.6'N, 027°10.5'E; alt. 710 m; 07.2007; H. Sipman & Th. Raus 56261 leg.; on Erica dwarf shrubs (B, LG DNA 1553); [DNA: MN811427 (ITS)]. Morocco - "Chellak ruinas prope Rabat"; 07.04.1934; R.G. Werner s.n.; "ad radices Chamaropsis humilis " (BC). TLC for both collections from Morocco (incl. type) by Amami N. , Arroyo & Seriñá, annotation of May 2002.

Figures

Figure 12. Species in Ramalina A R. crispans (holotype: left-hand specimen; other specimen from Morocco: right-hand) B R. lusitanica (Morocco, leg. J. Gattefosse, BC) C, D R. lusitanica (Italy / Sardinia, accession LG DNA 1525). Scale: 1 mm (C). Photographs by E. Serusiaux.