Michael Lüth
Emmendinger Strasse 32, D-79106
Freiburg, Germany, fax: +49 761 280944,
email: milueth@hotmail.com
Abstract – Cinclidotus confertus
Lüth sp. nov. is described and illustrated
from Vikos-Aoos National Park in northwest Greece. It is a compact, brownish-
to blackish-green plant with densely set leaves. In its papillose and
reddish-brown peristome teeth the new species resembles C. mucronatus (Brid.) Mach., but differs in its entirely smooth
laminal cells and shorter setae, 4–5 mm long.
In spring 2000 I
accompanied Prof. Dr. Albert Reif from the University of Freiburg for studies
in Vikos-Aoos National Park, in the very northwest of Greece, near the border
with Albania. It is an alpine area, more than 2000 m at its highest, with an
average altitude of 600-1200 m, with some small villages with extensive
agriculture and oak forests. In this park, there are two deep gorges at an
altitude of 300-600 m: Aoos and Vikos gorges. The Vikos gorge is divided into
two parts. The upper part, above the village of Vikos, has a seasonally dry
river, which only has water after heavy rain, mainly in winter. Near the
village of Vikos there is a large underground stream appears out of the
mountain and from here the lower part of the gorge has plentiful water
throughout the year.
In the heavy
current of the stream floods Cinclidotus
aquaticus (Hedw.) Bruch & Schimp. grows, and on limestone boulders in
the river, mainly near the banks, there is Cinclidotus
fontinaloides (Hedw.) P. Beauv., whilst Cinclidotus
mucronatus (Brid.) Mach. grows above water level on the banks, both in the
upper and in the lower part of the gorge.
In the upper
part of the gorge, just above the stream, an unknown Cinclidotus grows on a limestone boulder in the middle of the
seasonally dry river with the habit of Racomitrium
aciculare (Hedw.) Brid., compact and densly packed (photo Fig. 3).
Microscopic examination shows that this plant has a reddish-brown and papillose
peristome like C. mucronatus but
non-papillose laminal cells, a combination which is not known from any other
species of Cinclidotus. A piece of
the specimen was sent to Ryszard Ochyra, who confirmed that it is a new
species.
Cinclidotus
confertus Lüth sp. nov. Fig.
1 vegetativ Fig. 2 generativ Photo
Diagnosis – Species haec C. mucronato similis, sed foliis dense confertis, setis
4–5 mm longis et cellulis laminae laevissimis facillime diagnoscenda.
Type
–
GREECE, Pindos, Vikos-Aoos National Park.
Vikos gorge, on limestone boulder in episodically dry fallen river bed,
altitude ca. 490 m, 19 May 2000, Lüth
2805 (Holotype: STU; isotype: BM, KRAM)
Description – Plants in
dense, brownish- or blackish-green tufts, slightly appressed to the substrate. Stems 2-3 cm tall, mostly sparingly
branched, sometimes with short branches in clusters, creeping or hanging, pale
to reddish-brown, in cross-section irregularly rounded, 200-250 µm in diameter,
consisting of 2-3(-4)-layered epidermis of small cells, 5-15 µm wide with
strongly incrassate walls, surrounding larger cortical cells, 15-25 µm in
diameter, with slightly thickened to thin walls, central strand absent. Rhizoids in dense clusters at base of
stem, reddish-brown, smooth. Axillary
hairs at stem or branch tips, frequent and numerous on male plants, less
common on female plants, filiform, hyaline, consisting of 5-10 cells 40-60 µm
long. Leaves appressed to somewhat
curled and sometimes recurved below when dry, erecto-patent when moist,
ovate-lanceolate to lingulate-ovate, mostly flat or broadly concave, sometimes
sharply keeled above, 0.7-1.3 x 3-4 mm, bluntly acute to obtuse at the apex. Costa strong, brown, ending in or near
the apex, 80-150 µm wide in mid-leaf, 150-250 µm wide at base, tapering upwards
to 20-50 µm at the apex, nearly circular above, ventrally flat and dorsally
rounded below. Margin entire, plane
to sometimes narrowly recurved at one side in mid-leaf, strongly thickened
throughout with 4-8-seriate 2-4-stratose limbidium. Lamina unistratose. Upper and medial laminal cells hexagonal with
brownish, thickened and not sinuose walls, (10-)15(-20) µm wide, basal cells
rectangular with slightly sinuose and white thickened walls, (7-) 10-15 (-20) x
(15-) 20-40 (-50) µm.
Dioecious.
Perigonia bud-like, numerous, lateral on stem of rather rare male plants,
0.5-0.8 mm. Perigonial bracts
broadly ovate, strongly concave and sheathing, 0.4-0.8 mm long, with laminal
cells similar to those in vegetative leaves, obtuse to acute apex, sometimes
with a few single teeth, outer and inner perigonial bracts similar, the latter
only more sheathing and partly brown. Antheridia
3-6 per perigonium, club-shaped, pale. Paraphyses
numerous, filiform, hyaline to brownish, with cells up to 60 µm, exceeding the
antheridia. Perichaetial leaves with
similar areolation as in vegetative leaves; the innermost leaves
convolute-sheathing, brown at base. Seta
solitary, 4-5 mm long, straight or a little bent, golden to golden-brown,
twisted to the right when dry. Vaginula
dark, from brown above to green below, 1.5-2 mm, with rectangular, esinuose
epidermal cells. Capsules erect,
straight, obloid to cylindrical, 1.5-1.8 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, smooth, wrinkled
with age, golden to golden-green, lustrous when young, becoming reddish-brown
with age. Operculum conic-rostrate,
moderately oblique, obtuse at apex, 1 mm long, reddish-brown. Calyptra cucullate, pale brown, smooth,
3.5-4.5 mm long. Exothecial cells in
lower and median parts of the urn mostly rectangular with somewhat curved
walls, mixed with some isodiametric cells, 50-100 µm long, (20-)30-50 µm wide,
becoming isodiametric above and with small, oblate cells with thickened,
reddish-brown walls near the mouth. Peristome
teeth strongly fenestrate at base, entire in long, filiform segments, up to
300-400 µm, fragile, mostly broken in older capsules, reddish-brown, papillose.
Spores globose, finely papillose,
pale brown, (15-)20-25(-30) µm in diameter.
Etymology – The species
name signifies the crowded and packed habit of the plant (from Latin confertus = crowded, packed) which
refers to the densely set and often appressed leaves and the relatively short
stems.
Cinclidotus confertus grows on a quite small boulder in
the middle of a seasonally dry river, so for part of the year it is submersed
in a heavy flow, but for most of the year its habitat is quite dry. The
northwest of Greece is not as dry as the south, nevertheless in summer there
are months without rain. Although C.
confertus is dioecious, the plant has numerous sporophytes. The rare male
plants are found mixed with the female plants in the same mat.
The plant was
found only on one boulder, and all other nearby boulders were without mosses;
only near the banks were found Cinclidotus
fontinaloides and higher on the boulders Orthotrichum cupulatum var.
riparium Huebener. In the field, C.
confertus was not recognized as a new species, otherwise the whole upper
part of the river would have been searched for further localities, but C. confertus aroused my attention as a
new plant for me, and so I took photographs and looked for the plant over a few
hundred meters of the river.
On an
examination of the plant, the determination leads to Cinclidotus mucronatus, because of the reddish-brown, papillose
peristome (Mönkemeyer, 1927; Frahm & Frey, 1992), but C. mucronatus has papillose laminal cells and a much longer seta
(8-12 mm) than C. confertus. From the
habit, the leaves and the length of the seta (Smith, 1980), Cinclidotus riparius (Web. & Mohr)
Arn. is indicated, but that has a nearly smooth, yellow peristome. From the
habit, the length of the seta and the peristome (Frey et al., 1995), C. confertus
looks somewhat like Cinclidotus pachylomoides
Bizot, a plant that is described from the east Mediterranean area, but like C. mucronatus it has papillose
laminal cells and the cells of C.
confertus are smooth.
Greece still
remains a country under-investigated bryologically, despite recent notable
contributions by various authors (e.g. Düll, 1995). Therefore it is likely that
future field work will yield additional collections of this distinct and
remarkable species.
The genus Cinclidotus is well represented in the
Mediterranean area which is evidently the centre of its diversity. Frey et
al. (1995) recorded
no fewer than six species from Europe and an additional three species are known
in the Near East, including C. pachyloma E.
S. Salmon from the Lebanon, Syria and Israel (Frey & Kürschner, 1991) and
two recently described species from Turkey, namely C. nyholmiae Çetin (Çetin, 1988) and C. bistratosus Kürschner & Lübenau-Nestle (Kürschner &
Lübenau-Nestle, 2000).
I am gratefull
to Alfons Schäfer, who gave me the idea that the specimen Nr. 2805 of my
collection probably could be a new species and recommended me to turn to
Ryszard Ochyra as an expert for Cinclidotus.
My special thanks are due to Ryszard Ochyra, who confirmed that Cinclidotus confertus really is a new
species. He encouraged me in a very friendly way, to do the description and
also helped with the Latin diagnosis and with additional comments. Also, I
thank Brian O’Shea for the correction of my English.
Last, but not
least, I thank Albert Reif, who provided the idea and the financial backing to
the expedition. He was an edifying companion in travelling as well as in
never-ending discussions in the tavern of Vikos.
ÇETIN, B.,
1988 — Cinclidotus nyholmiae, a new
species from Köprülü Canyon National Park (Antalya) in Turkey. Journal of Bryology 15: 269–273.
DÜLL, R. (ed.), 1995 — Moose Griechenlands. Bryologische Beiträge 10: 1–229.
FRAHM, J.-P. & FREY, W. 1992 — Moosflora. Ed. 3. Stuttgart, Verlag Eugen Ulmer. 528 p.
FREY, W., FRAHM, J.-P., FISCHER, E. & LOBIN, W., 1995 — Die Moos- und Farnpflanzen Europas. In: Kleine Kryptogamenflora. 4. Stuttgart, Gustav Fischer Verlag. xi + 426 p.
FREY, W. & KÜRSCHNER, H., 1991 — Conspectus bryophytorum orientalum et arabicorum. Bryophytorum Bibliotheca 39: 1–181.
KÜRSCHNER, H. & LÜBENAU-NESTLE, R., 2000 — Cinclidotus bistratosus (Cinclidotaceae, Musci), a new species to the hydrophytic moss flora of Turkey. Nova Hedwigia 70: 471–480.
MÖNKEMEYER, W. 1927 — Die Laubmoose Europas. In: Dr L. Rabenhorsts Kryptogamen-Flora von Deutschland, Österreichs und der Schweiz. 4. - Ergänzungsband: Andreaeales – Bryales. Leipzig, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft m. b. H. x + 960 p.
SMITH, A.
J. E., 1980 — The moss flora of Britain
and Ireland. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 706 p.
Caption for Photo
Fig. 3. Dense tufts of Cinclidotus confertus Lüth on a
limestone boulder in Vikos gorge, which is in Vikos-Aoos National Park,
Northwest Greece. The stems of the plant hanging slightly appressed to the
substrate.