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The specimen previously identified as Marsupella microphylla from Brazil is reassessed and described as a new species, M. brasiliensis. The new species is characterized by paroicous inflorescence, bispiral elaters, scale-like, commonly unlobed leaves and very small leaf cells. Descriptions and drawings are provided along with a corresponding discussion of the morphological peculiarity of the new species. Marsupella brasiliensis belongs to sect. Stolonicaulon, and the distribution of Marsupella sect. Stolonicaulon in the New World is confirmed. The infrageneric position of M. microphylla remains unresolved, and whether it belongs to the same section is still unclear.

The most prolific source of exquisitely preserved bryophyte fossils is amber, which often contains inclusions in a three-dimensional and life-like state of preservation. In recent years, many fossil species have been described from 16 worldwide deposits ranging in age from the Miocene to the Cretaceous. One of the oldest is mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber from Myanmar. It includes the moss genera Vetiplanaxis and Calymperites as well as the leafy liverwort genera Frullania, Gackstroemia, Protofrullania, and Radula. All liverwort fossils belong to the mainly epiphytic Porellales, a group which was probably strongly influenced by the rise of angiosperms and underwent significant lineage turnover in the Cretaceous. Hence, Kachin amber provides important information on the evolution of leafy liverworts during a period characterized by fundamental changes in terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we describe two new species of the mainly epiphytic leafy liverwort genus Radula (Radulaceae), R. patrickmuelleri sp. nov. and R. tanaiensis sp. nov., and emend the description of Frullania kachinensis (Frullaniaceae). Radula is now represented by four species and one fossil only described to genus level, which indicates a high diversity already in the mid-Cretaceous. Furthermore, we describe additional fossil specimens of Frullaniaceae, including the third fertile specimen of Frullania baerlocheri, one sterile fossil of F. cretacea, and 12 sterile fossils of Protofrullania cornigera. The new fossil evidence necessitates an emendation of a recently published determination key for Cretaceous Jungermanniidae.

Two leafy liverwort species from the late Eocene Rovno amber are described. They are placed in the extant genus Nipponolejeunea (Jubulaceae, Porellales, Marchantiophyta) that includes two extant East Asian species and one fossil species described from the Eocene Baltic amber. New fossil species N. rovnoi sp. nov. and N. solodovnikovii sp. nov. differ from the Baltic N. europea, thus making the extinct diversity of the genus exceeding the contemporary species diversity, and such a case is registered for the first time for liverworts. The finding of Nipponolejeunea in Rovno amber may indicate the presence of Abies in the Eocene of Ukraine, since at the southern border of its distribution in Japan extant species the genus grows only on fir trunk. This is in a good concordance with the recent finding in Rovno amber the longhorn beetle Poliaenus europaeus, also associated with fir trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Porotrichum squarrosum has never been reported from Brazil and it is a new record. While revising herbarium specimens we found a specimen named Pireella squarrosa (currently Porotrichum), identified by Massimo Mastracci. We have compared this specimen with records from literature and several hundreds of specimens and found that among specimens previously determined as P. substriatum several belong to P. squarrosum. These taxa are a quite common in Brazil ranging from Amazon, Atlantic Forest to Cerrado phytogeographical domains at elevations from near sea level to about 600 m. These taxa are fast differentiated by the squarrose leaves, spur costa at back and absence of stem central strand in P. squarrosum against to complanate leaves, without spurowed costa at back and presence of central strand in P. substriatum.

Marsupella sect. Stolonicaulon is not speciose and is a commonly neglected section within the genus, which currently includes three species with somewhat similar morphologies (wiry shoots with distanced leaves) and distributions in the mountains of tropical and subtropical regions (SE (Southeast) Asia, the Venezuelan Andes, and the high mountains of SE Brazil). After studying materials that were found to be dissimilar to the “traditional” Marsupella that were collected in the last decade by the authors of this article, it was found that these plants belong to three new-for-science species, and all of these species should be included in Marsupella sect. Stolonicaulon. The newly described species have expanded the boundaries of morphological variability, not only for the section itself, but also for the genus based on two findings: (1) the leaves of Marsupella sect. Stolonicaulon can be either appressed and entire or spaced and deeply divided (thus, the plants could occasionally be similar to Cephaloziella or Anastrophyllum); (2) some species of the section possess regular underleaf production. The first discovery of regular underleaves in Marsupella, as noted in two of the three newly described taxa, is the main morphological novelty described in this paper. The development of regular underleaves is a presumable relict character that brings Marsupella closer to Nardia, which was recently transferred to the Gymnomitriaceae and occupies an isolated position within its own subfamily, Nardioideae.

Prior to the advent of molecular work, the observable variation in vegetative reproduction has been used to classify Lejeunea into subgenera and sections. Thereby, the ability of developing caducous leaves was regarded as major factor. A reexamination of several Lejeunea specimens revealed that L. cocoes with caducous leaves shows considerable morphological differences with non-caducous leaved plants of L. cocoes. Phylogenetic analyses based on a three-marker dataset (rbcL, trnLF and the nuclear ribosomal ITS region) indicated two independent and robust lineages of the morpho-species L. cocoes. We consider both clades as two distinct species and therefore describe the new species, L. malaysiana for L. cocoes morpho-species with caducous leaves. Lejeunea malaysiana is characterized by its caducous leaves with ribbon-like and plantlet regenerants, strongly reduced leaf lobules, distant and deeply bilobed underleaves, long-keeled obovoid perianth, and autoicy and ranges from tropical Asia to the Pacific region.

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DNA-based divergence time estimates suggested major changes in the composition of epiphyte lineages of liverworts during the Cretaceous; however, evidence from the fossil record is scarce. We present the first Cretaceous fossil of the predominantly epiphytic leafy liverwort genus Radula in ca. 100 Myr old Burmese amber. The fossil's exquisite preservation allows first insights into the morphology of early crown group representatives of Radula occurring in gymnosperm-dominated forests. Ancestral character state reconstruction aligns the fossil with the crown group of Radula subg. Odontoradula; however, corresponding divergence time estimates using the software BEAST lead to unrealistically old age estimates. Alternatively, assignment of the fossil to the stem of subg. Odontoradula results in a stem age estimate of Radula of 227.8 Ma (95 % highest posterior density (HPD): 165.7–306.7) and a crown group estimate of 176.3 Ma (135.1–227.4), in agreement with analyses employing standard substitution rates (stem age 235.6 Ma (142.9–368.5), crown group age 183.8 Ma (109.9–289.1)). The fossil likely belongs to the stem lineage of Radula subg. Odontoradula. The fossil's modern morphology suggests that switches from gymnosperm to angiosperm phorophytes occurred without changes in plant body plans in epiphytic liverworts. The fossil provides evidence for striking morphological homoplasy in time. Even conservative node assignments of the fossil support older rather than younger age estimates of the Radula crown group, involving origins for most extant subgenera by the end of the Cretaceous and diversification of their crown groups in the Cenozoic.

A revision of the Baltic and Bitterfeld amber fossilsassigned to Cylindrocolea dimorpha (Cephaloziellaceae) has yielded evidence of the presence ofmulticellular, bifid underleaves, which have not previously been reportedfor this species and conflict with the current circumscription of thefamily. We transfer the fossil species to Odontoschisma (sect. Iwatsukia) and propose the newcombination O. dimorpha of the Cephaloziaceae. Characteristics of the fossil include anoverall small size of the plant, entire-margined, bifid leaves andunderleaves, more or less equally thickened leaf cell walls, ventralbranching that includes stoloniform branches with reduced leaves, and thelack of a stem hyalodermis and gemmae. Placement of the fossil inCephaloziaceae profoundly affects divergence time estimates for liverwortsbased on DNA sequence variation with integrated information from the fossilrecord. Our reclassification concurs with hypotheses on the divergence timesof Cephaloziaceae derived from DNA sequence data that provide evidence of alate Early Cretaceous to early Eocene age of the Odontoschisma crown group and an originof O. sect. Iwatsukia in the Late Cretaceous to Oligocene.

Mittenothamnium reduncum, un nuevo registro para la flora briológica de Argentina, sedescribe, ilustra y comenta brevemente. Se presentan las diferencias morfológicas entre este taxón y M. reptans, la especie más frecuente en el área.

The specimen previously identified as Marsupella microphylla from Brazil is reassessed and described as a new species, M. brasiliensis. The new species is characterized by paroicous inflorescence, bispiral elaters, scale-like, commonly unlobed leaves and very small leaf cells. Descriptions and drawings are provided along with a corresponding discussion of the morphological peculiarity of the new species. Marsupella brasiliensis belongs to sect. Stolonicaulon, and the distribution of Marsupella sect. Stolonicaulon in the New World is confirmed. The infrageneric position of M. microphylla remains unresolved, and whether it belongs to the same section is still unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]