Orthotrichum subulatum Mitt. and Orthotrichum diaphanum Brid. var. diaphanum are reported from the Mérida Páramo, representing the first records of these two species in Venezuela. Additionally, new records of the recently described O. tenuicaule Lewinsky and O. spanotrichum Lewinsky are reported

Garilleti, Ricardo

Lara, Francisco

Mazimpaka, Vicente

English

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1Tropical Bryology 17: 1-4, 1999Some interesting Orthotrichum records from Venezuela.Francisco Lara1, Vicente Mazimpaka1 and Ricardo Garilleti21 Departamento de Biología (Botánica), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma deMadrid, E-28049 Madrid, Spain.2 Departamento de Medio ambiente, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Europea de Madrid,E-28670 Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain.Abstract: Orthotrichum subulatum Mitt. and Orthotrichum diaphanum  Brid. var. diaphanum arereported from the Mérida Páramo, representing the first records of these two species in Venezuela.Additionally, new records of the recently described O. tenuicaule Lewinsky and O. spanotrichumLewinsky are reported.During a trip to the Venezuelan Andes (MéridaState) in Christmas of 1995, the first authorcollected several epiphytic Orthotrichumgatherings in the páramos of Santo Domingo,Mucuchies-Gavidia and La Culata, and inneighbouring areas. This paper presents the mainresults of the study of these gatherings.In most cases, identified specimens correspondedto common taxa, among which prevailedOrthotrichum pycnophyllum Schimp. var.pycnophyllum and var. verrucosum (C. Müll.)Lewinsky, O. elongatum Tayl., and O. pariatumMitt. However, some specimens corresponded totwo taxa new to Venezuela (O. subulatum Mitt.and O. diaphanum Brid. var. diaphanum) and tonew records of two recently described species(O. tenuicaule Lewinsky and O. spanotrichumLewinsky) of which little is known due to recordscarcity. The number of Orthotrichum taxaknown from Venezuela is therefore now raisedto twelve.Orthotrichum subulatum Mitt.Mérida, Páramo de Santo Domingo, ca. 3200m, on branchlets of Diplostephium sp., 28-12-21995, F. Lara. Universidad Autónoma de Madridherbarium.This beautiful species was only previously knownfrom Ecuador and Colombia (Lewinsky 1987).Collected material was scarce, and contained asingle, almost mature capsule . The characte-ristic leaf apices of the studied specimen (fig. 1)recall those of Orthotrichum mandonii Hampe(with which this taxon has often been confused),but the sporophyte examination affords its safeattribution to O. subulatum, due to the followingcharacter combination: capsule immersed andclearly ribbed, with exothecial bandsdifferentiated up to the middle of the theca,endostome with thin, neither paired norappendiculate segments.Orthotrichum subulatum was found coexistingwith O. tenuicaule, O. spanotrichum and O.elongatum. Like in the Colombian Andes(Churchill & Linares, 1995), this moss seems tobe very rare in the Venezuelan Andes.Orthotrichum diaphanum Brid. var.diaphanumMérida, Escagüei, Hacienda de la Cañada, 2300m, tree fork in a secondary wood, surroundingan alder gallery, 28-XII-1995, F. Lara & M.Vergara. Universidad Autónoma de Madridherbarium.Venezuelan specimens do not differmorphologically from those of the NorthernHemisphere and are easily distinguished fromthe South American O. diaphanum var.podocarpum (C. Müll.) Lewinsky by their longer,hyaline leaf-apices. In South America, thisotherwise widely distributed taxon was onlyknown from Ecuador (Lewinsky, 1984) andColombia (Churchill & Linares, 1995). The factthat it is known from a single locality in each ofthe countries where it has been found, suggeststhat it is a rare taxon in this subcontinent.Orthotrichum pycnophyllum var. verrucosum wasthe only other Orthotrichum species found in thislocality.Orthotrichum tenuicaule LewinskyMérida, Páramo de Santo Domingo, ca. 3200m, on branchlets of Diplostephium sp., 28-XII-1995, F. Lara. Near the Laguna Negra, 3400 m,on branches of Berberis sp., 29-XII-1995, F.Lara. Ibidem, 3300 m, on branches ofHesperomeles glabrata H. B. K., 29-XII-1995,F. Lara. Universidad Autónoma de Madridherbarium.This species was recently described (Lewinsky,1994) upon materials collected by Schäfer-Verwimp & Verwimp in the Santo Domingopáramo (Mérida, Venezuela), at altitudes of3000-3200 m. We found it in the same area, butat a slightly higher range of altitudes. This mossis relatively frequent in the Santo Domingo area,although it is rarely abundant there. It has notbeen found in other páramos of Mérida region.Orthotrichum spanotrichum LewinskyMérida, Páramo de Santo Domingo, ca. 3200m, on branchlets of Diplostephium sp. 28-XII-1995, F. Lara. Near the Laguna Negra, 3300 m,on branches of Hesperomeles glabrata H. B. K.,29-XII-1995, F. Lara. Universidad Autónoma deMadrid herbarium.This species has also been recently described(Lewinsky 1993) upon materials from theVenezuelan Andes. Orthotrichum spanotrichumwas frequently found growing together with O.tenuicaule, from which it is easily discriminatedin the field by its peculiarly hairy calyptra.However, in the absence of this character,confusion between the two species can be avoidedby analysing the peristome, since O. spanotri-chum has 16 exostome teeth and a peculiar3Fig. 1. Details of  leaf-apices (A-B) and leaf-shape (C) in Orthotrichum subulatum Mitt. from          Venezuela. Drawing scales: A: 210 m; B: 0.4 mm; C: 1.0 mm4endostome formed by 8 stout segments thatalternate with 8 minor ones.In the Santo Domingo páramo, O. spanotrichumis less frequent and abundant than O. tenuicaule,but like this latter species, O. spanotrichum hasonly been found in areas close to the originallocality and is absent from neighbouringparamos.AcknowledgementsWe are grateful to David Foronda for the drawings offigure 1.Literature citedChurchill, S.P. & E.L. Linares. 1995. ProdromusBryologiae Novo-Granatensis. Intro-duccióna la flora de musgos de Colombia, parte 2.Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Santaféde Bogotá.Lewinsky, J. 1984. Orthotrichum Hedw. in SouthAmerica 1. Introduction and taxonomicrevision of taxa with immersed stomata.Lindbergia 10: 65-94.Lewinsky, J. 1987. Orthotrichum (Orthotrichaceae)in South America 2. Taxonomic revision oftaxa with superficial stomata. Memoirs ofthe New York Botanical Garden 45: 326-370.Lewinsky, J. 1993. Orthotrichum spanotrichumLewinsky, sp. nov. from Venezuela. Lind-bergia 18: 116-120.Lewinsky, J. 1994. Miscellaneous notes onOrthotrichum (Bryophyta) 1-3. Journal ofthe Hattori Botanical Laboratory 75: 45-49.

Some interesting Orthotrichum records from Venezuela

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