ABSTRACT
Hennediella Paris is a globally distributed genus comprising 15 species, of which two are presently known from southern Africa. Field studies in the Cape winter-rainfall area yielded a specimen that could not be assigned to any of the known species of the genus and is here described as new.
Specimens collected using standard bryological field techniques were rehydrated in the laboratory, dissected, and mounted in Hoyer’s solution. Observations and measurements were made using standard stereo and compound microscopy.
Hennediella austroafricana Hedd. & M.J.Cano is a new species that is currently known only from the type locality in the Cape winter-rainfall region at Drie Kuilen, where it grew in Matjiesfontein Renosterveld. It is distinct from all other members of the genus in the combination of leaves with a border of short-rectangular, thick-walled, smooth (or at least less papillose) cells, and sporophytes with a thick seta, and a peristome with a high basal membrane and relatively short, straight to slightly twisted, filiform teeth.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the owners and management of Drie Kuilen Private Nature Reserve for permission to carry out research on their property, and to Inmaculada Guijarro for the illustration.
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No potential conflicts of interest were reported by the authors.
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Notes on contributors
Terry A. Hedderson
Terry Hedderson is a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Cape Town. He specialises in systematics, biogeography and phylogeography, with a strong focus on African mosses, especially those of the Greater Cape Floristic Region.
María J. Cano
María J. Cano is a full professor of botany at the University of Murcia (Spain). Her research topics include the floristics, conservation, taxonomy and phylogeny of bryophytes. Her current research interest is focused on the taxonomy and phylogeny of different genera of the family Pottiaceae.