published sequences of types indicate R. pancaribbea and R. pancaribbea var zealandica are different and that the name Phaeoclavulina zealandica appropriate.
New Zealand Map Grid:
2257260E 5749030N (WGS84 -43.42355 169.877982)
Specimen notes
Public Note:
The type of Ramaria pancaribbea var. zealandica (= Phaeoclavulina zealandica) is PDD 46655. An isotype is TENN 43383 and this has a sequence deposited as AY577849 (and confusingly labelled PDD 43383 in GenBank).
In phylogenies this sequence occupies a position near P. zippelii AY577844 (coll FH - Farlow Herbarium). This is presumably Petersen's stated neotype of P. zippelii from Java and is the holotype of Clavaria phaeocladia.
Neither of these sequences appears in any of the phylogenetic trees by Giachini (Thesis Chapter 2) or in any subsequent publications except P. zippelii in https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.362.2.7 where it is part of a distinct clade that appears within Phaeoclavulina, but without any outgroup to support that.
In fact the type of P. zealandica and the neotype of P. zippelii seem to form a well supported clade with several other species and do not cluster within Phaeoclavulina typified by P. macrospora. In addition no PDD material to date subsequently identified as P. zealandica or P. zippelii is the same (or even close to) the types of either species. They are closer to P. cyanocephala and for which Petersen used the name Ramaria zippelii f. aeruginosa. There are at least two NZ species in this group and they are within Phaeoclavulina sensu stricto.
J.A. Cooper, Oct. 2022