Type: Ecuador, Galapagos Islands, Santa Cruz, on coastal lava cliffs E of Puerto Ayora near Charles Darwin Research Station, 20 m alt., 29 May 2005, A. Aptroot 63412 (CDS 30176–holotype; ABL–isotype).
Etymology. The species has a very variable morphology.
Thallus dull, shrubby, up to 3 cm in diam., upright, greenish grey, somewhat fragile, very variable in branching pattern, e.g., with few, short, stout and broadly flattened, antler-like branches that have curled tips (Fig. 7B), or with densely ramified, irregularly angular branches that apically become terete (Fig. 7C), occasionally with curled tips (hooks), up to ca. 3 mm in diam., but usually much thinner; surface wrinkled, irregularly striate from cartilaginous cortical strands; soredia rather discrete but occasionally confluent, capitate or irregular, but mostly terminal, yellowish, up to ca. 1 mm in diam.; apothecia and pycnidia unknown; medulla K+ orange yellow, soon red, rarely K-, UV+ white or UV- (salazinic ± sekikaic ± divaricatic acid or nil); cortex with usnic acid.
This species is the most common (often the dominant) saxicolous Ramalina on the Galapagos. It has been found in all vegetation zones on moderately exposed to sheltered rocks. It appears more common along the coast, throughout the arid zone and the lower transition zone, only one specimen is known from higher altitudes. The species is unusually variable with two morphological extremes that nevertheless intergrade.
Selected specimens examined. Ecuador: Galápagos: Bartolomé Island, N-side of island, near Pinnacle Rock, 0˚ 17’ 2” S, 90˚ 33’ 15” W, alt. 10 m, W-exposed steep slope of lava flow (basalt) with scarce low vegetation, on rock, small protrusions of aa-lava rock, W-exposed; sunny, wind- and rain-sheltered, 21 vii 2006, F. Bungartz 5325 (CDS no. 29541); Isabela Island, Volcán Alcedo, cinder cone ca. 100 m from the shore and a little N of Islote Cowley , 0˚ 22’ 54” S, 91˚ 0’ 4” W, alt. 17 m, coastal zone; basalt outcrops (aa-lava) bare of vegetation, on rock, SE-exposed front of basalt outcrop; sunny, wind- and rain-exposed, 11 iii 2006, F. Bungartz 4503 (CDS no. 28589); Isabela Island, Volcán Alcedo, highest cinder cone along the trail going up the E-slope, 0˚ 23’ 37” S, 91˚ 1’ 31” W, alt. 250 m, arid lowlands; basalt outcrops, at the bottom scattered Bursera graveolens trees and shrubs of Castela galapageia, on rock (basalt lava), 10 iii 2006, A. Aptroot 65004 (CDS no. 31584); Pinzón Island, along the trail going up from Playa Escondida, N- to W-facing cliff above a crater, 0˚ 36’ 29” S, 90˚ 40’ 14” W, alt. 318 m, dry transition zone with Cordia lutea, Croton scouleri, and at the bottom of the cliff also Scalesia baurii ssp. baurii, on rock (basalt lava), 16 ii 2006, A. Aptroot 64019 (CDS no. 30580, Fig. 7C); Plaza Norte Island, 0˚ 34’ 47” S, 90˚ 9’ 47” W, alt. 1 m, coastal zone; vertical, S-exposed coastal cliffs and on top of island inpenetrable thicket of Grabowskia boerhaaviaefolia and Scutia spicata with occasional Opuntia in between, on wood, twig, 21 ii 2006, A. Aptroot 64380 (CDS no. 30945); Plaza Sur Island, 0˚ 34’ 59” S, 90˚ 9’ 54” W, alt. 1 m, coastal zone; eastern part with scattered and low vegetation of Sesuvium portulacastrum & Tiquilia galapagoa with occasional Opuntias, on rock (basalt lava), 21 ii 2006, A. Aptroot 64458 (CDS no. 31027); San Cristóbal Island, from Punta Tortuga ca. 3 km inland close to Cerro Tortuga, 0˚ 44’ 39” S, 89˚ 23’ 32” W, alt. 79 m, arid zone; young basalt lava flow of bare aa-lava, on rock, NW-exposed cavity in small basalt outcrop; shaded, wind- and rain-sheltered, 25 iv 2007, F. Bungartz 6506 (CDS no. 34723); Santa Cruz Island, Puerto Ayora, near CDRS, 0˚ 44’ 32” S, 90˚ 18’ 10” W, alt. 1 m, on rock (basalt lava), 10 ii 2006, A. Aptroot 63680 (CDS no. 30236); Santa Cruz Island, at the East coast of the island, ca. 400 m N of Cerro Colorado, on top of the coastal cliff; E-exposed (SCZ 41), 0˚ 34’ 47” S, 90˚ 10’ 21” W, alt. 21 m, arid zone; scattered scrubs of Castela galapageia, Acacia rorudiana, and Opuntia echios among basaltic rocks, a rare Bursera graveolens in between, on rock, lava, 21/02/2006, Aptroot, A. 64371 (CDS no. 30936, Fig. 7B); Santiago Island, summit of Cerro Gavilan, N- and E-side of the crater, 0˚ 12’ 20” S, 90˚ 47’ 3” W, alt. 840 m, fern-sedge zone; N- and NE-exposed, steep basalt cliffs of crater rim with ferns growing in crevices, on rock (basalt lava), 23 iii 2006, A. Aptroot 65656 (CDS no. 32247).
from: Aptroot, A. & Bungartz, F. (2007) The lichen genus Ramalina on the Galapagos. The Lichenologist39(6): 519-542.