Isopterygium subglobosum Herzog 1916

Isopterygium subglobosum

Isopterygium subglobosum Herzog, Biblioth. Bot. 87: 15l. 1916. Type: Bolivia. Santa Rosa del Chapare, Herzog 2738 (holotype: JE!; isotypes: H!, M!).

Plants in thin to dense mats, light green to yellowish green. Stems up to 2.5 cm long, 1.0–1.5 mm wide, complanate-foliate, simple or irregularly and freely branched. Asexual reproductive bodies lacking. Leaves 0.7–1.0 mm long, 0.3–0.5 mm wide, flaccid, close, concave, wide-spreading to squarrose, smooth, somewhat contorted when dry, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, often curved and asymmetric, short- to long-acuminate; margins erect, serrulate above, entire or nearly so below; costa none; median cells 52–108 × 7–9 μm, smooth; alar cells rectangular, in small groups with 1–2 cells on margins. Autoicous. Setae 1.4–2.2 cm long, yellowish red to reddish; capsules 0.5–1.2 mm long, inclined, subglobose, not contracted below the mouth when dry; operculum high-conic to short-rostrate; peristome teeth up to 0.3 mm long. Spores 9–12 μm in diameter.

Distribution and ecology: Known from only the type locality in Bolivia (Figure 12), occurring on decaying leaves at margin of creek at ˜1700 m.

Discussion: This species, like the previous one, is impossible to distinguish from several of the other Latin American Isopterygium species when capsules are not present. The subglobose capsules that are not contracted under the mouth when dry are very distinctive, but this may possibly represent only an environmental response to light, moisture, etc., with no genetic basis. We have elected to retain Isopterygium subglobosum as a separate species until more collections become available for comparison. The gametophytes of this species are very similar to I. tenerum.

Specimen examined: BOLIVIA. Only the type specimens seen.

Isopterygium subglobosum là một loài Rêu trong họ Hypnaceae. Loài này được Herzog mô tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1916.