Abstract
A new orthotrichaceous species, Lewinskya transcaucasica Eckstein, Garilleti & F.Lara, is described, based on several samples collected in the Georgian territories of Greater Caucasus and Lesser Caucasus. The species is best differentiated by its sporophytic characteristics. Its capsules are long ovoid to cup-shaped and smooth and show no differentiation of the longitudinal bands of the exothecial cells. The capsules vary from emerging fully from the perichaetial leaves to having a shortly exserted position. The peristome is double, with an exostome of eight pairs of orange to crimson teeth whose tips are variably cancellated and fenestrated and recurved when dry, and an endostome of eight segments that occasionally alternate with reduced intermediate segments. All of these segments are yellowish to pale orange, mainly linear, uniseriate or partially biseriate, and strongly ornamented on the inner side. The new moss is illustrated and compared with similar taxa around the world.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD, support programme ‘Ostpartnerschaften’) as well as by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grants CGL2011–28857/BOS and CGL2013-43246-P). The Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Georgia, Agency of Protected Areas granted permission for specimen collection in the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park (25-03-01/625). We wish to warmly thank Prof. Dr. Shamil Shetekauri, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, without whose reliable logistic support most of the expeditions to Georgia would not have been possible. Finally, we express our gratitude to Vicente Mazimpaka for the translation of the diagnosis into Latin, to Markus Wagner for the improvement of the English language and to Hans-Joachim Zündorf (Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena) for the opportunity to study part of his excellent bryophyte collection from Georgia, from which all the examined specimens originated.
Taxonomic Additions and Changes: Lewinskya transcaucasica Eckstein, Garilleti & F.Lara, sp. nov.
ORCID
Jan Eckstein http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7214-3321
Ricardo Garilleti http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5977-2908
Francisco Lara http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1665-5277