Ramalina sorediosa (Bouly de Lesdain) Landrón ex Kashiwadani & Kalb

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

4. Ramalina sorediosa (Bouly de Lesdain) Landrón ex Kashiwadani & Kalb

Lichenologist 25: 25 (1993) . – Ramalina dasypoga Tuckerman var. sorediosa Bouly de Lesdain, Rév. Bryol. Lichén. 7: 59 (1934). Type:― CUBA. Boqueron: Estación Naval, B. Hiorami (lectotype FH).

Thallus corticolous, shrubby, dichotomously branched, up to 4 cm long, whitish, growing from a common holdfast. Branches solid, mainly terete with irregular thickness in main branches, slightly flattened on main branches near the base, faveolated, 0.3–0.5 mm width, with cylindrical side branchlets, surface smooth. Soralia punctiform, terminal, lateral, forming coarse granules. Pseudocyphellae laminal, punctiform or short ellipsoid, very small, often developing into soralia. Cortex indistinct. Chondroid tissue not cracked, continuous. Medulla white, loose. Pycnidia and apothecia not seen.

Chemistry (TLC, HPTLC): Norstictic acid (López-Figueiras 25163).

Ecology and distribution: Ramalina sorediosa grows on branches and shrubs in rainforests at 1800–2000 m. It is known from the Caribbean, Central America, the Galápagos Islands and South America ( Brazil and Venezuela).

Remarks: Ramalina sorediosa could be confused with R. rigida and R. cumanensis . However, R. rigida has a rigid, saxicolous thallus and contains salazinic acid, stictic acid, and sekikaic acid (and its aggregates) as major substances whereas R. cumanensis has a canaliculate thallus and lacks medullary substances. Kashiwadani & Kalb (1993) and Aptroot & Bungartz (2007) reported the presence of salazinic acid, sometimes together with sekikaic acid and its aggregates, in specimens of this species from Braziland the Galapagos Isles, respectively. This is the first report of norstictic acid for this species..

Specimens examined. VENEZUELA: Dto. Federal: El Avila National Park , near funicular station, 1900 m, 14 February 1981, M. Lopez Figueiras 25163 ( MER) .