GBA onlineANOMODONTACEAE(B.J. O'Shea) Plants small to medium sized, forming mats, often coarsely so, dark green to yellowish-brown. Stems undifferentiated and foliate, or primary stems creeping, leaves reduced and scale-like, with secondary stems spreading to erect, mostly short, terete; flagellate branches occasional. Leaves crowded, erect to appressed when dry, erect to wide-spreading, complanate or terete when wet, broadly ovate, ovate-lanceolate, ovate-ligulate or -oblong, apex obtuse-rounded to narrowly, tips fragile or not, base broadly decurrent or not; margins plane to recurved, crenulate to coarsely toothed; costa single, strong below, mostly 2/3 lamina length to ending below leaf acumen; laminal cells subquadrate to rhombic or hexagonal, thin- to thick-walled, smooth or pluripapillose; basal cells adjoining costa oblong, smooth, thick-walled. Dioicous. Perichaetia lateral, leaves differentiated. Seta elongate. Capsule erect, urn cylindrical to ovoid or ovoid-cylindrical, smooth to faintly wrinkled when dry; annulus absent or well developed in 1-2 rows, deciduous in fragments. Operculum conic-rostrate. Peristome double, exostome teeth 16, short or well developed, papillose or cross-striate to smooth below; endostome finely papillose, represented only by a low membrane, segments somewhat to notably rudimentary and adhering to exostome, or narrow, keeled, perforate or not, cilia absent or rudimentary. Calyptra cucullate, smooth and naked or with a few erect hairs. Spores spherical, appearing smooth to finely papillose. Discussion. The Anomodontaceae contain five genera and about 25 species with only two genera in sub-Saharan Africa, containing three species. Members of this family have previously been aligned with the Thuidiaceae, and still are treated as such by some authors. Literature. Granzow-de la Cerda, I. 1992. Análisis cladístico de la familia Anomodontaceae. Tropical Bryology, 6: 95-104. Granzow-de la Cerda, I. 1997. Revision and phylogeny of Anomodon and Herpetineuron (Anomodontaceae, Musci). Contributions from the University of Michigan Herbarium, 21: 205-275 [keys, illustrations, maps].
Two species in sub-Saharan Africa (A. pseudotristis (Müll.Hal.) Kindb. and A. tristis (Ces. in De Not.) Sull. & Lesq.) (O'Shea 2000); a genus of about 18 species mostly associated with the north temperate regions. Plants slender, forming loose to dense mats, dark green to yellowish-brown. Primary stems creeping, leaves reduced and scale-like. Secondary stems spreading to erect-ascending, mostly short, terete; flagellate branches occasional. Leaves crowded, erect-appressed to loosely erect when dry, erect to wide-spreading, somewhat complanate when wet, ovate-ligulate, apex obtuse-rounded; margins plane to revolute, crenulate; costa short and weak to extending beyond mid-leaf; laminal cells rounded-hexagonal, thin-walled, pluripapillose, papillae few to several over cell lumen; basal cells adjoining costa oblong, smooth, thick-walled. Perichaetial leaves differentiated, elongate, sheathing at base, cells elongate, smooth. Seta to 25--30 mm long. Capsule erect, symmetric, oblong-ovate, to 1 mm long, smooth to faintly wrinkled when dry; annulus well developed in 1-2 rows, deciduous in fragments. Operculum conic-rostrate, oblique. Peristome with exostome teeth smooth below, papillose above; endostome without segments or cilia. Calyptra papillate with a few erect hairs. Spores to 22µm, finely papillose. Habitat. On soil, rocks, base and trunk of trees; montane forests, often associated with calcareous sites, 350-1800 m. Discussion. Characteristics of the genus include the spreading to ascending secondary stems, absence of paraphyllia, leaves ligulate to gradually acuminate from an ovate base, entire or crenulate margins, laminal cells pluripapillose, isodiametric. The African species were previously assigned to Haplohymenium, but Granzow-de la Cerda (1992, 1997) has demonstrated that Haplohymenium is derived within Anomodon, and treated it as a section within that genus. It is known in Africa from Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and the Mascarenes (Réunion, Rodrigues and Mauritius), and is well distributed around the Indian Ocean, in E Asia and the SW Pacific. Collections named A. tristis may be mis-identifications, as all the specimens so named seen by the author have been A. pseudotristis (O'Shea 2000), with the only exception of genuine material found recently in Réunion. The species differ in that the shoots of A. tristis are about twice the width of those of A. pseudotristis, and have many leaves with broken tips, particularly towards the base of the stem. Literature. Granzow-de la Cerda, I. 1992, 1997 - see family ref. O'Shea, B.J. 2000. Taxonomic notes on Anomodon (Anomodontaceae, Bryopsida) in Africa. Journal of Bryology 22: 241-242. Herpetineuron (Müll.Hal.) Cardot One species in Africa, H. toccoae (Sull. & Lesq.) Cardot, recorded from Guinea, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa and Madagascar (also the southeastern United States south to southern Brazil and S Asia down to New Caledonia, and N to Japan); a genus of two species, rather widespread, at high elevations in the tropics.
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