Plagiotheciumtalbotii, a new species from the Aleutian Islands (Alaska, U.S.A.)

Grzegorz J Wolski; Paulina Nowicka-Krawczyk; William R Buck

doi:10.3897/phytokeys.194.81652

Plagiotheciumtalbotii, a new species from the Aleutian Islands (Alaska, U.S.A.)

PhytoKeys. 2022 Apr 15:194:63-73. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.194.81652. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Grzegorz J Wolski¹, Paulina Nowicka-Krawczyk², William R Buck³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Geobotany and Plant Ecology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, ul. Banacha 12/16, 90-237 Lodz, Poland.
² Department of Algology and Mycology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, ul. Banacha 12/16, 90-237 Lodz, Poland.
³ Institute of Systematic Botany, The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126, USA.

Abstract

Plagiotheciumtalbotii sp. nov. is described from Attu Island, Alaska, U.S.A. The newly-described species is not similar in appearance to any Northern Hemisphere species; only the habit is similar to P.platyphyllum. However, it not only occupies a different habitat than that species, but genetically and morphologically, it is clearly distinct from it. The results of DNA sequencing, a detailed description of the morphological features, illustrations, ecological preferences and currently known geographical distribution of P.talbotii are presented. The most important distinguishing morphological features of this species are: the size of the plant; dimensions and symmetry of the leaves; dimensions of cells and their areolation; entire leaf apex; and long decurrencies with some inflated cells. Additionally, we propose to place P.talbotii in section Plagiothecium, which is confirmed by genetic analysis and morphological features.

Keywords: Attu Island; Bryophyta; Plagiotheciaceae; S. S. Talbot; taxonomy.

Grzegorz J. Wolski, Paulina Nowicka-Krawczyk, William R. Buck.