On the occurrence of Lejeunea pulverulenta (Marchantiophyta, Lejeuneaceae) in Brazil

Abstract

Lejeunea pulverulenta is recorded for the first time to the Northeast of Brazil. The specimen was collected in Serra Bonita, Municipality of Camacan, southern Bahia, Brazil. Herein the species is described and illustrated.

Key words: Atlantic Forest; floristic; Liverworts; Porellales

Resumo

Lejeunea pulverulenta está sendo reportada pela primeira vez para o Nordeste do Brasil. Os espécimes foram coletados na Serra Bonita, Município de Camacan, sul da Bahia, Brasil. Descrição e ilustração são apresentadas para a espécie.

Palavras-chave: Floresta Atlântica; florística; Hepáticas; Porellales

Lejeunea Lib. is the largest genus of the family Lejeuneaceae, with more than 300 recognized species (Heinrichs et al. 2013), and is distributed worldwide. In Brazil, the genus is represented by 40 species (Costa & Peralta 2015); however, a new species, Lejeunea combuensis O.S. Moura, Ilk.-Borg. & M.E. Reiner, was recently described for the state of Pará (Moura et al. 2012). Ilkiu-Borges (2000) and Bastos (2004) published the first treatments of the family Lejeuneaceae for the states of Pará and Bahia, respectively, while Bastos & Yano (2009) performed the first treatment of the genus Lejeunea for the state of Bahia, describing 21 species.

Lejeunea is a complex genus, and the identification of most of its species depends on characteristics of the perianth. However, the genus can be recognized by the combination of the following characters: (a) Lejeunea-type vegetative branches; (b) innovation with lejeunoid sequence; (c) first tooth of lobule prominent, with hyaline papilla located at its proximal base; (d) Jungermannia-type or Massula-type oil bodies; (e) generally bifid, rarely entire underleaves; and (f) perianth 5-keeled or smooth. According to Heinrichs et al. (2013), the center of diversity for the genus is the humid tropics, but it also inhabits temperate zones.

During studies that resulted from the project “Briófitas do corredor central da floresta atlântica brasileira: de onde partimos, para onde vamos?” (“Bryophytes of the central corridor of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: where do we begin, where are we going?”) coordinated by the last author, Lejeunea pulverulenta (Gottsche ex Steph.) E. Reiner, a rare species cited for Brazil but without locality and known to occur in Guadeloupe, Ecuador and Guiana (Reiner-Drehwald 2005), was encountered. Thus, the distribution of this species in Brazil is not known. Thus, the objective of this work is to report the occurrence of this species in state of Bahia, Northeastern Brazil.

Material was collected in Serra Bonita, Municipality of Camacan, the extreme south of the state of Bahia, Brazil (15º23’S, 39º33’W), covering an area equivalent to 7,500 hectares. Located in the central portion of Serra Bonita is the Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural (RPPN) Serra Bonita, which possesses 2,000 hectares of protected area at altitudes from 300 to 1,080 m (Amorim et al. 2009) within the Atlantic Forest Domain, specifically the Central Atlantic Forest Corridor.

Lejeunea pulverulenta (Gottsche ex Steph.) E. Reiner, Cryptogamie, Bryologie 26(1): 60. 2005. ≡ Taxilejeunea pulverulenta Gottsche ex Steph., Sp. Hepat. 5: 477. 1913.

Type: WINDWARD ISLANDS, GAUDELOUPE. L’Herminier s.n. (lectotype G 52572, designated by Reiner-Drehwald 2005). Fig. 1a-f

Figure 1
Lejeunea pulverulenta - a. gametophyte, ventral view; b. gametophyte with perianths, ventral view; c-d. detail of gametophyte in ventral view, showing the underleaves; e. underleaf; f. laminal cells (all figures from J.P.S.Batista 74).

Plants robust, 1.2−1.4 mm wide, vegetative branches Lejeunea-type. Stem 100 µm wide, in cross-section 7 cortical cells and 21 medullary cells; ventral merophytes two cells wide. Leaves spreading, imbricate; lobe oblong, 650−750 µm long × 475−575 µm wide, dorsal margin slightly arched, entire, ventral margin slightly arched, entire, apex rounded to acute; median cells oblong, 38−55 µm de long × 23−30 µm wide, thin-walled, papillose, trigones large, intermediate thickenings nodulose, cells toward the leaf margin oblong to hexagonal, 20−25 µm long × 15−20 µm wide, perpendicular to the larger, central cells, strongly papillose surface; oil bodies not seen; ocelli absent; lobule small, ovate, 100−120 µm long × 80−100 µm wide, free margin involute, apical tooth oblong, slightly curved, hyaline papilla at proximal base of apical tooth, keel straight to slightly arched. Underleaves large, ovate to suborbicular, imbricate, 400−600 µm long × 430−640 µm wide, bifid to 1/2, lobes acute to cuspidate, sinus acute, base auriculate, insertion line arched. Autoicous. Androecia terminal or short lateral branches, 2−5 pairs, bracteole at the base of branch. Gynoecium terminal on short lateral branches, innovation lejeuneoid-type, innovation usually fertile and then 1−3 or more gynoecium in a row per branch, female bract lobe ovate to obovate, margin entire, apex rounded to acute, lobule oblong-obovate, apex acute to rounded; bracteole bifid to short bifid, oblong-ovate; perianth obovate, 5-keeled, lateral keels expanded above, irregularly ornamented with teeth and small cilia, beak short, two cells long.

Material examined: BRAZIL. BAHIA: Camacan, Serra Bonita, Trilha das Bromélias, 24.II.2015, Mércia P.P. Silva 977 (ALCB); Trilha da Bapeba, 15º23’35.2”S, 39º33’34”W, 25.II.2015, J.P.S.Batista 74 (ALCB).

Lejeunea pulverulenta is characterized by leaf lobe with rounded apex, and sharp border of 5−6 rows of smaller marginal cells perpendicular to the larger, central cells, cells with trigones and strongly papillose surface, underleaves imbricate with auriculate bases and acute lobes, perianth with keels irregularly ornamented with teeth and small cilia. Lejeunea pulverulenta is morphologically closely related to Lejeunea controversa Gottsche, but differing by following characters: (a) leaf lobe apex entire (occasionally with few teeth on dorsal margin near the apex in L. controversa); (b) leaf lobe apex widely rounded (subacute to apiculate in L. controversa); (c) underleaf base auriculate (rounded in L. controversa) (fide Reiner-Drehwald 2005).

Lejeunea pulverulenta is known from Guadeloupe, Ecuador and Guiana. It was cited for Brazil but without locality. The specimen was found growing on the trunk of a live tree.

Lejeunea pulverulenta was initially described as Taxilejeunea pulverulenta Gottsche ex Steph., and subsequently transferred to the genus Lejeunea by Reiner-Drehwald (2005). According to Reiner-Drehwald (2005), Taxilejeunea pulverulenta was described based on plants from Guadeloupe and Brazil, however, this author does not indicate the geographic distribution of any locality of occurrence of this species in Brazil, and only refers to Monte Roraima (Mount Roraima), but in Guiana. Stephani (1914) also reported the occurrence of L. pulverulenta in Brazil but without indicating the locality (Brasilia orientalis). Thus, here we report for the first time a precise locality of occurrence of this species in Brazil. However, this restricted distribution in Brazil may be due to insufficient collection or to the difficult of identifying the species. Examination of several herbarium collections or the implementation of greater collection effort may reveal a wider distribution of the L. pulverulenta in Brazil, or even in the neotropics.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to FAPESB for their financial support to the Project (PAM0003/2014) and to the Universidade Federal da Bahia (Federal University of Bahia) for the support of fieldwork, and to Dr. M.E. Reiner-Drehwald for the identification of Lejeunea pulverulenta. Cid Bastos is grateful to CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) for the Research Productivity Fellowship.

References

• Amorim AM, Jardim JG, Lopes MMM, Fiaschi P, Borges RAX, Perdiz RO & Thomas WW (2009) Angiospermas em remanescentes de floresta montana no sul da Bahia, Brasil. Biota Neotropica 9: 313-348.
• Bastos CJP (2004) Lejeuneaceae (Marchantiophyta) no estado da Bahia, Brasil. Tese de Doutorado. Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo. 442p.
• Bastos CJP & Yano O (2009) O gênero Lejeunea Libert (Lejeuneaceae) no estado da Bahia, Brasil. Hoehnea 36: 303-320.
• Costa DP & Peralta DF (2015) Bryophytes diversity in Brazil. Rodriguésia 66: 1063-1071.
• Heinrichs J, Dong S, Shäfer-verwimp A, Pócs T, Feldberg K, Czumaj A, Schmidt Reitner J, Renner MAM, Hentschel J, Stech M & Schneider H (2013) Molecular phylogeny of the leafy liverwort Lejeunea (Porellales): evidence for a Neotropical origin, uneven distribution of sexual systems and insufficient taxonomy. PLoS ONE 8: e82547. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082547
  » https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0082547
• Ilkiu-Borges AL (2000) Lejeuneaceae (Hepaticae) da Estação Científica Ferreira Pena, Caxiuanã, município de Melgaço, Pará. Tese de Doutorado. Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias do Pará, Belém. 251p.
• Moura OS, Ilkiu-Borges AL & Reiner-Dreehwald ME (2012) A new species of Lejeunea Lib. (Lejeuneaceae) from Low Várzea forest in lower Amazon (Pará, Brazil). Nova Hedwigia 95: 197-202.
• Reiner-Drehwald ME (2005) Taxilejeunea pulverulenta (Lejeuneaceae, Jungermanniopsida), a poorly known species from the Neotropics, is transferred to Lejeunea Cryptogamie, Bryologie 26: 59-65.
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Edited by

• Editora de área: Dra. Lana Sylvestre

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  25 Apr 2019
• Date of issue
  2019

History

• Received
  27 Apr 2017
• Accepted
  21 Feb 2018