Bryophyte Diversity and Evolution

Special issue for Stephan Robbert Gradstein, commemorating his 80th birthday (Cover)

2024-05-21T13:39:03+12:00

Special issue for Stephan Robbert Gradstein, commemorating his 80th birthday (Table of Contents)

2024-05-21T13:39:20+12:00

In Celebration of Professor Stephan Robbert Gradstein

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**A new Western Australian species of Riccia in section Spongodes Nees, group ‘Vesiculosa’ (Ricciaceae, Marchantiophyta)**

2024-05-21T13:40:00+12:00

Riccia anguillarum Cargill, is described from Western Australia. This endemic species is distinguished by a fleshy, succulent thallus (similar to southern African species of Riccia in section Spongodes, group ‘Vesiculosa’). It is also unique within Riccia and the Ricciaceae in having a thallus of multilayered air spaces and a bi-layered capsule wall. A description of the new species with images, illustrations and map of its locations is provided.

Fissidens bassilae (Fissidentaceae, Musci), a new species from Africa

2024-05-21T13:40:29+12:00

Fissidens bassilae sp. nov. is described and illustrated from Benin. This terrestrial species is characterized by large cells, persistent protonemata and limbidia restricted to the vaginant laminae of some perichaetial leaves. The similar Asian-Australian F. flabellulus Thwaites & Mitt. var. flabellulus has smaller cells, all leaves elimbate and lacks persistent protonemata. The new species belongs to Fissidens subg. Polypodiopsis.

Lejeunea robbertiana (Lejeuneaceae), a new liverwort species from New Caledonia

2024-05-21T13:40:57+12:00

The new species, Lejeunea robbertiana G.E. Lee & Pócs, from New Caledonia is described and illustrated. It is characterized by the abundance of ribbon-like propagules, which are usually 4 cells wide and found on the leaf margins. The leaf cells have well-developed trigones and conspicuous intermediate thickenings, up to 3 per cell. The distantly arranged underleaves with deeply bifid lobes, the pyriform perianth with 5 keels, and autoicy are also the distinguishing characteristics of the new species.

**Homoplasy rather than intergeneric hybridisation explains mammillose leaf cells in Schistidium mammillosum sp. nov. (Grimmiaceae)**

2024-05-21T13:41:19+12:00

We present a peculiar new species in the Grimmiaceae, Schistidium mammillosum, which is distinct in having mammillose leaf cells and pluristratose lamina. These features are rare in mosses but shared by a few Grimmia species including sympatric G. alpestris. Sporophyte characteristics of the new taxon, in contrast, indicated a species of Schistidium and suggested a possible intergeneric hybrid origin. Nuclear ITS and plastid rps4‒trnF sequence data consistently resolved the new taxon within species of Schistidium, thus contradicting the hybridogenic hypothesis. We suggest that the shared feature of mammillose cells evolved independently in the two genera in adaptation to similar environmental conditions, possibly prolonged snow cover. Supported by morphological similarity, our phylogenetic analyses indicate a sister relationship of S. mammillosum and S. marginale in the Confertum clade. Schistidium mammillosum colonises siliceous rocks in the alpine and nival zone and is to date known from the French Alps and a single locality in Switzerland.

Another cup of Java—An updated checklist of hornworts and liverworts of Java

2024-05-21T13:41:52+12:00

This represents an update to the 2010 checklist of all hornworts and liverworts reported for Java. The checklist includes i) new information published since 2010, ii) previously overlooked historical literature as well as iii) corrected unintentional mistakes that were published in 2010. We now report that the hornwort and liverwort flora of Java consists of 608 known and accepted species as well as several invalid names that we can not place to any taxon. The updated checklist includes 35 recorded species that are considered dubious and another 157 species are excluded from the flora of Java.

Mosses of Coahuila, northern Mexico: The dryland species

2024-05-21T13:42:23+12:00

The moss flora of the state of Coahuila and that in northwestern Mexico is poorly known. Recent exploration in the drylands of Coahuila have yielded findings that bring the number to about 101 species in the state moss flora where the Pottiaceae, Bryaceae, and Grimmiaceae are the families best represented. The lowland moss flora is well represented in the Chihuahuan Desert area in northern Mexico, but also in the southern United States. Species of Crossidium, Pseudocrossidium, and Syntrichia are known desiccation-tolerant mosses; Entodon concinnus and Ephemerum coherens are additions to the moss flora of Mexico.

Bryophyte flora of São Tomé and Príncipe: an update of the Lejeuneaceae family

2024-05-21T13:42:45+12:00

A Lejeuneaceae updated checklist for São Tomé and Príncipe is presented, including 69 species, being 32 taxa endemic, 23 new records to São Tomé and Príncipe, and 10 new records to Africa. This checklist has been carried out, based on the study of ca. 600 samples housed at LISU herbarium collected by the second author in his postdoctoral project, on two field works in 2007 and 2008, and later in 2016. Within the Lejeuneaceae family, 85 species were known from the country and the new reports increased the total number of species in 27% compared with the last publications. Thus the islands can be distinguished due to the high number of the species of the Lejeuneaceae family that represents about 50% of the country liverwort’s flora. These results corroborate that field work and study of herbarium collections bringing new data for the bryophyte diversity of the archipelago.

**A morphological-taxonomic study of Frullania calcarifera Steph. (Frullaniaceae) in Portugal**

2024-05-21T13:43:10+12:00

Frullania is one of the largest genera of liverworts in Europe with morphologically polymorphic species in the Holarctic region, giving rise to reservations regarding the delimitation of some taxa. Initially described by Stephani (1887) from Portugal, Frullania calcarifera is a neglected liverwort in the semi-cryptic F. tamarisci complex. Following years of obscurity, F. calcarifera was eventually resurrected as a good species and reported from the Pyrenees, Italy, Algeria and more recently the Ukraine (Crimean Peninsula). In the present study, based on Portuguese material, distinguishing characters and illustrations of the types and representative specimens of F. calcarifera are presented. An updated distribution of F. calcarifera in Portugal, and a predictive model of its known areas of occurrence in Portugal is presented and discussed in relation to the distribution of its congener F. tamarisci.

**Identification tools for Bazzania (Lepidoziaceae, Marchantiophyta) from Madagascar: the Xper3 interactive and static keys**

2024-05-21T13:43:39+12:00

A computer-assisted identification (CAI) key, created by the XPer3 software, is presented based on the description of the genus Bazzania (Lepidoziaceae) in Madagascar. The knowledge database is presented along with automatically generated keys and static keys, which are both produced by the software. Although these tools are powerful and user-friendly, expert competence is essential both for building the database and providing relevant keys.

**The water absorption capacity of 21 Sphagnum species**

2024-05-21T13:44:03+12:00

Sphagnum moss (peat moss) is the dominant land plant in peatlands, and it plays an essential role in peatland ecosystems because its remarkable water-holding capacity helps to conserve water resources and maintain the anoxic environment of peatlands. Sphagnum moss exhibits a super ability to absorb water. However, the water absorption capacity of different species and different parts of the same species is not well understood. In this study, we measured the short-term and saturated water absorption of 21 Sphagnum species from China. The results showed that the water absorption capacity of the investigated peat mosses was much higher than that of other bryophytes. Sphagnum imbricatum had the highest saturated water absorption capacity (about 44 times its dry weight), while the peat moss with the lowest saturated water absorption was Sphagnum flexuosum (about 19 times its dry weight). In addition, we determined the relative volume of hyalocysts of the spreading and pendent branch leaves of 18 Sphagnum species and further measured the water absorption capacity of the pendent branch, spreading branch, and stem of six of them. The results revealed that both pendent and spreading branches had strong water absorption capacity and were the primary water-absorbing parts of peat mosses. The water-absorbing capacity of different Sphagnum species was linearly related to the volume of hyalocysts. The results provide an essential scientific basis for selecting high-quality germplasm resources of peat moss.