Name and plant variation
In POWO, Airampoa corrugata includes numerous formerly separated taxa, including A. aurata, A. microdisca and A. albisaetacens. Tunilla corrugata and Opuntia corrugata are earlier combinations referring to the same species name. This broad scope explains why a description of one cultivated clone does not represent all plants occurring under the current name. [2-WWW]
Mottram linked classical O. corrugata material with Gillies's collection from Mendoza. He noted less flattened segments and frequent whitish spines but stressed variation and the excessive influence of individual clones on the picture of the species in European collections. Plants known as O. microdisca represented another readily recognisable appearance, with bright red flowers. [Mottram 2004]
Habitat and research material
POWO gives northwestern Argentina and dry shrubland environments. Kiesling and colleagues' observations of A. aurata include Salta and Jujuy, among others. The authors describe these plants dominating some overgrazed areas. This is information about specific material and habitats. The atlas retains it under broad A. corrugata, without assigning identical ecology to all its populations. [2-WWW] [Kiesling et al. 2025]
Garralla and Cuadrado studied pollen of material assigned to Tunilla corrugata, with herbarium specimen Leuenberger 4436 from the Iglesia area in San Juan province. They found spherical, pantoporate grains with perforated exine and small spines. Retaining the specimen number is especially valuable in a variable group whose taxonomic boundaries are not treated alike by all authors. [Garralla and Cuadrado 2007]
Identification in a collection
When comparing specimens, relate the structure of successive segments, spines and flowers to plant origin. Retain the former label and field number alongside the accepted name. Changing a label from Tunilla to Airampoa resolves the genus-name question but does not itself confirm that the original specimen identification was correct. [Mottram 2004] [2-WWW]
Synonyms and names in the literature
Airampoa albisaetacens · Airampoa armata · Airampoa aurata · Airampoa microdisca · Echinocactus corrugatus · Opuntia albisaetacens · Opuntia albisaetacens var. robustior · Opuntia armata · Opuntia calantha · Opuntia corrugata · Opuntia corrugata subsp. brevispina · Opuntia corrugata var. monvillei · Opuntia eborina · Opuntia eburnea · Opuntia laetevirens · Opuntia longispina · Opuntia longispina var. agglomerata · Opuntia longispina var. brevispina · Opuntia longispina var. corrugata · Opuntia longispina var. flavidispina · Opuntia longispina var. intermedia · Opuntia microdisca · Opuntia parmentieri · Opuntia retrospinosa · Platyopuntia albisaetacens · Platyopuntia corrugata · Platyopuntia microdisca · Tephrocactus corrugatus · Tephrocactus microdiscus · Tephrocactus retrospinosus · Tephrocactus retrospinus · Tunilla albisaetacens · Tunilla armata · Tunilla corrugata · Tunilla longispina · Tunilla microdisca · Tunilla retrospinosa [2-WWW]