Líquenes del Herbario Nacional de Venezuela (VEN) y sus muestras tipo

the lichen collection of the venezuelan national herbarium (ven) holds 14,090 specimens (10,680 national and 2,769 foreign), and 48 type specimens. the collection of national specimens is represented by 197 genera and 818 species. this accounts for 60% of all the species reported for the country. ven holds collections from important venezuelan and foreign lichenologists (vareschi, lópez-figueiras, sipman, etc.). it also stores collections from almost all venezuelan regions with emphasis in the states of bolívar, amazonas, distrito capital and mérida. many lichenologically unexplored regions still exist in venezuela, requiring immediate attention due to the intense and accelerated ecological alteration that they are experiencing lately. these regions include the andean foothill, the perijá sierra, the ávila national park, the henri pittier national park, the lower orinoco, the gran sabana and the northwestern coastal areas.