Ramalina anteojina A. Morales & V. Marcano, 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 : 29

4. Ramalina anteojina A. Morales & V. Marcano sp. nov.; Mycobank #838604 (Fig. 30)

Thallus saxicolus, parvus. Laciniae filiformes, subteretiusculae. Pseudocyphellae lineares. Soralia lateralia vel laminalia. Pycnidia non visa. Apothecia nulla. Acida usnicum, sekikaicum, hypoprotocetraricum et succinprotocetraricum continens.

Type:― VENEZUELA. Mérida: Laguna Anteojos, near Pico Espejo, Sierra Nevada National Park , 4100 m, V . Vareschi & L. Vareschi 6900 (holotype VEN) .

Thallus saxicolous, rigid, erect, up to 1 cm long, pale yellow, older parts often discolored, with a distinct, delimited holdfast. Branches striate, filamentous, irregular, more or less terete, 0.8–1.0 mm broad, with numerous soralia producing ecorticate granules. Pseudocyphellae linear, longitudinally arranged. Cortical tissue paraplectenchymatous, 70–155 µm thick, peripheral tissue prosoplectenchymatous, 270–285 µm thick, medulla dense. Pycnidia not seen. Apothecia not seen.

Chemistry ( TLC, HPTLC): Sekikaic, hypoprotocetraric and succinprotocetraric (tr.) acids.

Ecology and distribution: Ramalina anteojina is a rare species in the Venezuelan Andes known from alpine elevations (4100 m) where it is found in paramo, growing on rocks (Fig. 30). This is the Ramalina species that grows at the highest altitude in Venezuela.

Remarks: Ramalina anteojina is distinguished by the erect thallus, striate, with more or less subterete, sorediate branches; elliptic or linear, marginal pseudocyphellae; a very compact cortex; and the presence of sekikaic, hypoprotocetraric and succinprotocetraric acids. Ramalina anteojina is morphologically similar to R. tenuissima ( Marcano & Morales 1994a) . Both species are characterized by striate, filamentous laciniae, with linear, longitudinally arranged pseudocyphellae and the presence of sekikaic acid. However, R. anteojina is saxicolous, very small (<1 cm) and contain additional hypoprotocetraric and succinprotocetraric acids, whereas R. tenuissima is corticolous, up to 32 cm long and contains only sekikaic acid. The SEM study shows that the upper surface is characterized by a scabrose, disrupted surface, comprising numerous, small, fragmented and flake-like hyphae (Fig. 19).

The name of the species refers to the type locality.