Gemma germination is known to require light in bryophytes. Water-dispersed (hydrochory) species, however, have not been tested for a light response, and one hypothesis is that hydrochory may be ecologically correlated with a burial response (dark germination of stolons capable of surfacing when buried). The eventual burial of floating propagules in muddy soil is likely to be frequent and thereby select for the ability to surface from depth. We found that the widespread often hydrochorous species Gemmabryum dichotomum produces protonemal (chloronemal) bulbils that (1) germinate in total darkness by producing negatively gravitropic or lateral rhizoidal stolons, (2) regerminate with protonemal filaments when subsequently exposed to light, (3) surface from sand burial depths of 4, 8, and 12 mm (grain size < 355 µm) and produce a surface colony of shoots and protonemal bulbils in 6–17 wk depending on burial depth, and (4) can tolerate at least 2 mos. of continuous darkness followed by regermination through protonemata when brought into the light. Prolonged darkness (2 mos.) resulted in delayed regermination, fewer protonemal filaments, and fewer shoots when brought into the light. However, such bulbils produced a greater protonemal spread than control bulbils due to protonemata arising from stolons previously produced in darkness.
Algeria's geographic position, between the Mediterranean Sea and the desert, provides a valuable context for understanding lichen species distributions. However, lichens in this country remain poorly studied. To address this gap, 36 specimens of the genus Parmelia were collected from northern Algeria and analyzed using molecular phylogenetic methods and comprehensive chemical profiling. Four species of the genus Parmelia sensu stricto (P. omphalodes, P. saxatilis, P. sulcata, and P. submontana) have previously been reported from Algeria. In this study, the identities of P. sulcata sensu stricto and P. submontana were confirmed using molecular data. In addition, four species are newly reported for Algeria: Parmelia barrenoae, P. encryptata, P. neosaxatilis and P. serrana. Notably, all Algerian samples previously identified as P. saxatilis sensu lato are here reassigned to P. serrana, with one sample identified as P. neosaxatilis, suggesting that P. saxatilis sensu stricto may not occur in Algeria. A comprehensive chemical profiling of all specimens of selected Parmelia species is presented. Our results show that the combined analytical approaches using HPLC equipped with diode-array, evaporative light scattering, and mass spectrometric detectors, together with TLC (using UV detector and rhodamine 6G and sulfuric anisaldehyde reagents), enabled the straightforward detection of the discriminant metabolites α-methylene butyrolactones (lichesterinic acid derivatives) and lobaric acid. These compounds distinguish P. ernstiae from P. serrana and P. saxatilis sensu stricto. However, the chemical analyses did not allow differentiation among the three cryptic species P. encryptata, P. barrenoae and P. sulcata sensu stricto. This integrative approach to studying cryptic species may provide a framework for the determination of their precise biogeographical distributions.
We report compressed fossil mats of leafy liverwort (Jungermanniidae) gametophytes from the early Eocene Tufolitas Laguna del Hunco, Chubut Province, Patagonia, Argentina, dated to ∼52.2 Ma. The fossils are preserved in tuffaceous lacustrine density-flow deposits previously interpreted as turbidites derived from slope failures along the caldera margin. We describe a new genus and species, Camptochila eternautae gen. et sp. nov., and compare its morphology with living and fossil leafy liverworts. The combination of succubous, 2-ranked, entire lateral leaves with a revolute margin and leptodermous leaf cells without trigones or papillae, monomorphic shoots with pseudodichotomous branching, and absent or vestigial underleaves does not correspond to any known living genus or previously described fossil. Vegetative characters shared with Adelanthaceae, Lophocoleaceae, and Plagiochilaceae preclude unambiguous family assignment based on currently available material. Camptochila eternautae provides the first unequivocal macrofossil evidence of leafy liverworts from South America, extending the Eocene record of Jungermanniidae in the southern hemisphere and demonstrating that lacustrine density-flow deposits are promising targets for future discovery of bryophyte compression fossils.
We describe the new species Umbonidiscus rhizocarpoides from Alaska, California and Washington, U.S.A., as well as British Columbia, Canada. The saxicolous lichen has a brown, crustose to subsquamulose thallus and apothecia that are lecideine with broad margins and usually one or more umbos on each disk. Spores are pigmented and 1-septate giving the overall impression of a member of the Rhizocarpon badioatrum group. The asci are prototunicate, disintegrating at maturity. Phylogenetic analysis on multilocus data sets of ITS, nuLSU, and mtSSU place the new species in an isolated clade between Catillariaceae and Caliciales, distant from Rhizocarpon. Based on this placement we formally introduce a new monotypic genus Umbonidiscus and family Umbonidiscaceae for this taxon.
