Homalothecium meridionale (M.Fleisch. & Warnst.) Hedenäs, 2004

Osman, Imen Ben, Hugonnot, Vincent, Muller, Serge D. & Daoud-Bouattour, Amina, 2022, New bryophytes for Tunisia (North Africa). Part 2: other families, Cryptogamie, Bryologie 20 (11), pp. 173-185 : 177

Homalothecium meridionale (M.Fleisch. & Warnst.) Hedenäs

SPECIMENS EXAMINED. — Tunisia. Mogods, Beja Governorate, Delegation of Nefza: Khorguelia, sterile, 37°04’35.24”N, 09°03’32.75”E, 93 m a.s.l. (site 2019-79), 09.IV.2019, Ben Osman & Hugonnot (TUN[TUN2019-288]); Tamra, sterile, 37°03’22.80”N, 09°05’45.42”E, 179 m a.s.l. (site 2019-80), 09.IV.2019, Ben Osman & Hugonnot (TUN[TUN2019-296]).

REMARKS

Homalothecium meridionale was collected on soil, on the banks of a wadi (see Fissidens fontanus for the site description) (Khorguelia), and in an abandoned iron mine workings, and on earth-covered rocks (Tamra). It has been thoroughly studied in Portugal where it grows usually as an epiphyte and as a saxicolous species on limestone rocks ( Sérgio et al. 2016). It seems to occupy a wide variety of unspecialized niches in distinct habitats.

The moss differs from Homalothecium sericeum (Hedw.) Schimp. mostly in the ornamentation of the seta, which is slightly rough in the upper ¼ ( Hedenäs et al. 2014). The outer exostome ornamentation is diagnostic followingSérgio et al. (2016), but could not be verified owing to poor state of preservation of the peristome. Vegetative characters seem to be more difficult to interpret (branch leaves are usually widest at 15-30% above the leaf base; weak marginal denticulation at the alar region, with teeth that are rarely and only slightly bent outwards).

Homalothecium meridionale is a Mediterranean species, present also in Macaronesia ( Hodgetts & Lockhart 2020). Recent phylogenetic analyses have shown that H. sericeum s.l. includes three molecular-based groups ( H. mandonii (Mitt.) Geh. , H. meridionale and H. sericeum s.s.; Hedenäs et al. 2014), and the detailed distribution of the two latter is incompletely known.