Sphaerocarpos ibericus sp. nov. (Sphaerocarpaceae), a new European liverwort species that includes S. stipitatus auct. eur. non Lindenb.

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Specimens of Sphaerocarpos collected during 2022 from the central Iberian Peninsula did not match any previously known species of this genus. Examination of other herbarium material revealed three identical specimens from three different localities in Spain. These were also morphologically identical to Portuguese specimens previously identified as S. stipitatus, a southern hemisphere and Himalayan species that in fact is different from these Portuguese plants.

Methods

The morphology of the newly collected specimens was compared with that of the known European species plus descriptions of South African plants of Sphaerocarpos stipitatus. A phylogenetic analysis based on the nuclear gene 26S and plastid psbA and rbcL regions was performed to investigate its relationships in the genus.

Key results and conclusions

Based on morphological and molecular data, we describe the plant as a new species of bryophyte, Sphaerocarpos ibericus M.Infante, Luceño, Quirós-de-la-Peña, Míguez, J.Muñoz & Heras, hitherto an Iberian endemic. It is diagnosed by having cylindrical female involucres with a partially bistratose wall whose inner cells are finger-like and arranged in more-or-less definite ribs in the medial part of the involucre, and the distal part of its spores covered with complete areolae larger at the centre of the spores than on their sides, gradually becoming incomplete and with the remaining lamellae transforming into ridges towards the line where the individual spores of the tetrad are joined. According to published illustrations, Portuguese specimens identified as S. stipitatus pertain indeed to the new species, and therefore S. stipitatus auct. eur. non Lindenb. should be removed from the European liverwort flora.

KEYWORDS:

• Description
• distribution
• Europe
• liverwort
• phylogeny
• Sphaerocarpos

Acknowledgements

We thank the curators of DR (Frank Müller), MA (Alejandro Quintanar) and SALA (Francisco Javier Hernández García), and Alfons Schäfer-Verwimp, for the loan of specimens; Dr Rui-Liang Zhu for information on the ‘Portugal VII’ specimen at HSNU; Yolanda Ruiz (RJB-CSIC) for the SEM photographs; and José Luis Robles (Candeleda, Ávila) for his help during fieldwork.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marta Infante

Marta Infante is a researcher in bryology with interests in floristics, taxonomy, ecology and conservation in the Iberian Peninsula, France and tropical Africa.

Modesto Luceño

Modesto Luceño is a full professor of botany at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide. His main fields of research are: (i) flora of the Spanish Central System (vascular plants and bryophytes), and (ii) systematics of the family Cyperaceae at the global level.

Begoña Quirós-de-la-Peña

Begoña Quirós-de-la-Peña is a doctoral student at Charles University (Prague) and the Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Sciences (Průhonice). She is fascinated by biosystematics and taxonomy, and has contributed to several studies regarding the Iberian flora. Currently, she is studying chromosomal evolution of the genus Hieracium.

Mónica Míguez

Mónica Míguez is a research technician at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide who, having completed her doctoral thesis, is continuing her research in molecular systematics and taxonomy of the sections Rhynchocystis and Sylvaticae of the genus Carex (Cyperaceae).

Jesús Muñoz

Jesús Muñoz is a senior researcher at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid (CSIC). In addition to pursuing his lifelong interest in bryophyte taxonomy and floristics, he has studied biogeographical patterns and processes such as those related to long-distance dispersal by wind.

Patxi Heras

Patxi Heras is a researcher in bryology and curator of VIT herbarium with interests in floristics, taxonomy, ecology and conservation in the Iberian Peninsula and tropical Africa.