Radulaceae is a family occurring in all continents but Antarctica, with its only genus Radula Dumort., containing more than 200 species. A peculiar new species was found in the Mananara North ...Biosphere reserve and National Park in the northeast of the island of Madagascar. The new species, although I have found exclusively on living leaves, does not show the morphologic characters of the artificial section Radula sect. Epiphyllae Castle ex Grolle (tiny plants, stem with single, unpigmented cortical layer and thin walled medullary cells and production of abundant sporophytes or gemmae). It is a robust, sterile plant with much thicker stem, 12–15 cells wide, consisting of somewhat thickened, slightly pigmented cortical and medullary cells. The most characteristic feature is the very regularly densely pinnate (to bipinnate) branching system with closely imbricate leaves. The leaves are not caducous, and the leaf cells bear a smooth cuticle. The lobule is quadrangular with an obtuse or apiculate apex, about half the length of the lobe. The new species bears a superficial resemblance to R. appressa Mitt., a widespread African species and to an unclarified taxon: R. silvestris Gottsche, described from Madagascar. From these the new species is distinguished by the above-mentioned characteristics.
A new species of Colura (Dumort.) Dumort., was collected in the Cape Tribulation area of Queensland, in the mangrove forests of Daintree National Park. It is a member of subgenus Colura, section ...Harmophyllum Grolle, and differs from the superficially similar Colura pulcherrima Ast and C. queenslandica B. M. Thiers (both belong to another subgenus or section) by its easily detachable valve or by its acutely papillose lobule surface. Cheilolejeunea occlusa (Herz.) Kodama & Kitagawa occurs in the same habitat. This is a new record for Australia.
Cambay amber originates from the warmest period of the Eocene, which is also well known for the appearance of early angiosperm-dominated megathermal forests. The humid climate of these forests may ...have triggered the evolution of epiphytic lineages of bryophytes; however, early Eocene fossils of bryophytes are rare. Here, we present evidence for lejeuneoid liverworts and pleurocarpous mosses in Cambay amber. The preserved morphology of the moss fossil is inconclusive for a detailed taxonomic treatment. The liverwort fossil is, however, distinctive; its zig-zagged stems, suberect complicate-bilobed leaves, large leaf lobules, and small, deeply bifid underleaves suggest a member of Lejeuneaceae subtribe Lejeuneinae (Harpalejeunea, Lejeunea, Microlejeunea). We tested alternative classification possibilities by conducting divergence time estimates based on DNA sequence variation of Lejeuneinae using the age of the fossil for corresponding age constraints. Consideration of the fossil as a stem group member of Microlejeunea or Lejeunea resulted in an Eocene to Late Cretaceous age of the Lejeuneinae crown group. This reconstruction is in good accordance with published divergence time estimates generated without the newly presented fossil evidence. Balancing available evidence, we describe the liverwort fossil as the extinct species Microlejeunea nyiahae, representing the oldest crown group fossil of Lejeuneaceae.
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Agroforestry integrates trees in agricultural landscapes for socio-economic and ecological benefits. On Kilimanjaro, the agroforestry system of the Chagga homegardens harbours a high diversity of ...vascular plants and animals. In contrast, the commercial coffee plantations represent a monocultural type of agroforestry and are managed more intensively. The aim of this study is to investigate the bryophyte flora of these differently managed agroforestry systems on Kilimanjaro and to highlight their function for biodiversity and as a refuge for bryophytes. We used 10 of the permanent monitoring plots of the DFG-funded Kili-project, each of 20 × 50 m. We recorded the species separately on the ground, on dead wood, on coffee trees and on trees taller than 2 metres using rope-based canopy access methods from arboriculture. In total we found 68 bryophyte species, which (without the 10 new records) corresponds to 45% of the known bryophyte species of the submontane and colline zone of Kilimanjaro. The strongest correlation for the total number of species per plot was with elevation, followed by land use intensity and mean annual precipitation (all, except land use intensity with a positive trend). Our study shows that homegardens and partly also commercial coffee plantations on Kilimanjaro can serve as refuges for former forest dwellers. This ability to conserve nature is enhanced by less intensive land management without using pesticides. As the market for organic products grows, such ecological management could provide coffee farms with a stable income while protecting their biodiversity.
Lejeunea is a largely epiphytic, subcosmopolitan liverwort genus with a complex taxonomic history. Species circumscriptions and their relationships are subject to controversy; biogeographic history ...and diversification through time are largely unknown.
We employed sequences of two chloroplast regions (trnL-trnF, rbcL) and the nuclear ribosomal ITS region of 332 accessions to explore the phylogeny of the Harpalejeunea-Lejeunea-Microlejeunea complex. Lejeunea forms a well-supported clade that splits into two main lineages corresponding to L. subg. Lejeunea and L. subg. Crossotolejeunea. Neotropical accessions dominate early diverging lineages of both main clades of Lejeunea. This pattern suggests an origin in the Neotropics followed by several colonizations from the Neotropics into the Paleotropics and vice versa. Most Afro-Madagascan clades are related to Asian clades. Several temperate Lejeunea radiations were detected. Eighty two of the 91 investigated Lejeunea species could be identified to species level. Of these 82 species, 54 were represented by multiple accessions (25 para- or polyphyletic, 29 monophyletic). Twenty nine of the 36 investigated species of L. subg. Lejeunea were monoicous and 7 dioicous. Within L. subg. Crossotolejeunea, 15 of the 46 investigated species were monoicous and 31 dioicous. Some dioicous as well as some monoicous species have disjunct ranges.
We present the first global phylogeny of Lejeunea and the first example of a Neotropical origin of a Pantropical liverwort genus. Furthermore, we provide evidence for the Neotropics as a cradle of Lejeunea lineages and detect post-colonization radiations in Asia, Australasia, Afro-Madagascar and Europe. Dioicy/monoicy shifts are likely non-randomly distributed. The presented phylogeny points to the need of integrative taxonomical studies to clarify many Lejeunea binomials. Most importantly, it provides a framework for future studies on the diversification of this lineage in space and time, especially in the context of sexual systems in Lejeuneaceae.
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A new liverwort species, Lejeunea masamiana G.E.Lee & Pócs, is described and illustrated from Indonesian New Guinea. It is recognised by the strongly recurved to involuted leaves both in dry and ...moist condition, leaf cells with well-developed trigones and with conspicuous intermediate thickenings, smooth cuticle, fully incurved free margin of the lobule, and large, reniform underleaves with frequently recurved margins and with lobes up to 1/4 of underleaf length. Morphological variations of some liverwort species due to environmental effect of the forest in New Guinea are discussed, as a factor which might have influenced also the morphology of the new species.
The bryophyte flora of Hungary was relatively well studied during the twentieth century, but data on the present-day frequency and geographical distribution of Hungarian bryophytes are lacking. We ...present here our preliminary results based on recent fieldwork and herbarium studies.
We recorded bryophyte occurrences in grid cells (quadrants) of approximately 5.5 × 6 km. Frequency was determined based on the number of quadrants, and geographical distribution evaluated in terms of the 19 administrative units (counties) of the country. To investigate correlations between species richness and relevant environmental drivers, statistical analyses were carried out.
A total of 698 bryophyte taxa (2 hornworts, 151 liverworts and 545 mosses) have been found in the territory of Hungary. For each of the 637 taxa that have been observed since 1973, one of five frequency classes (very common, common, sporadic to frequent, rare, and very rare) has been assigned based on the relevant number of field records or herbarium specimens. Additionally, tabular distributional information (occurrence in each of the 19 counties) is presented for each taxon. In the statistical evaluation of the geographical distribution data, the elevational range and the size of the surveyed area were positively correlated with bryophyte richness, whereas arable land cover was negatively correlated.
Although the survey was not uniform or complete across the different counties, the results support some robust bryogeographical theories. We hope to have the opportunity in the near future to compile a new Hungarian bryophyte Red List, partly based on these national frequency data.
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During an intensive ecological and biodiversity research project in the eastern Andes of central Peru large number of bryophytes were collected including many species new to Peru and a few even to ...science. The present paper describes two new species of Lejeuneaceae,
and
which seem to be endemic to the Andes.
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