Riccardia fucoidea (Sw.) C.Massal.

Reeb, Catherine, Bernard, Elisabeth Lavocat & Gradstein, S. Robbert, 2022, An integrative taxonomic revision of Aneuraceae H. Klinggr. (Marchantiophyta) from Guadeloupe and Martinique, French West Indies, Cryptogamie, Bryologie 20 (8), pp. 135-152 : 141-142

Riccardia fucoidea (Sw.) C.Massal.

Jungermannia fucoidea Sw. , Nova genera et Species Plantarum seu Prodromus: 145 (1788). — Riccardia fucoidea (Sw.) C.Massal. ,

Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano 17: 256 (= Epat. Terra del Fuoco) (1885). — Type: Jamaica. Swartz s.n. (holo-, S!).

Aneura virgata Gottsche ex Steph. , Hedwigia 27: 277 (1888). — Riccardia virgata (Gottsche ex Steph.) Pagán , The Bryologist 42: 7 (1939). — Type: Guadeloupe. L’Herminier s.n. (holo-, G[G00114872]!), syn. nov.

Aneura diablotina Spruce , Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany 30: 366 (1895). — Riccardia diablotina (Spruce) Pagán , The Bryologist 45: 80 (1942). — Type: Dominica. Mt. Diablotín, on tree trunks, 4000 ft., X.1892, W. R. Elliott 699 (holo-, BM[BM013777342]!), syn. nov.

Aneura distans Spruce , Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany 30: 367 (1895). — Riccardia distans (Spruce) Pagán , The Bryologist 45: 80 (1942). — Type: Dominica. Mt. Trois Pitons, on tree trunks, 2500 ft., XI.1892, W. R. Elliott 763 (holo-, BM[BM013777341]!), syn. nov.

Aneura grossidens Steph. , Hedwigia 32: 23 (1893). — Riccardia grossidens (Steph.) Pagán , The Bryologist 45: 80 (1942). — Type: Guadeloupe. L’Herminier s.n. (lecto-, fide Bonner [1962], G; n.v.), syn. nov.

SPECIMENS EXAMINED FROM THE FRENCH ANTILLES. — Guadeloupe. Bois du Matouba de long de la rivière Rouge, 807 m, A. Duss 358, det. F. M. Pagán as R. virgata (NY[00611576]); Morne Pérou, Pointe Noire, 1903, A. Duss 75 (NY[04117505, 04117507]), 1160 (NY[04117508]); Chutes du Galion, Soufrière area, 16°01’50”N, 61°39’44”W, 820 m, 20.IX.2002, Lavocat Bernard 420; Carmichael trail, Soufrière area, 16°02’57”N, 61°39’42”W, 1300 m, 07.V.2007, Lavocat Bernard 717, 718; Soufrière, 16°02’36”N, 61°40’01”W, 1255 m, 24.VII.2013, Lavocat Bernard 1872, 1876; Carbet Falls, 16°02’38”N, 61°38’29”W, 637 m, 28.VII.2013, Lavocat Bernard 1891. Martinique. Bois du Lorrain, le long de la rivière de ce nom, 610-630 m, A. Duss 359 as R. virgata (NY[00611575]); Mount Pelée, trail of Grande Savane, 14°48’46”N, 61°10’14”W, 1150 m, 09.VIII.2012, Lavocat Bernard 1757, 1767; Rivière Picodo, Case L’Étang, Le Prêcheur, 14°47’46”N, 61°11’52”W, 200 m, 04.IV.2012, Lavocat Bernard 1620.

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT. — Widespread and common in the mountains of tropical America, up to about 4000 m ( Gradstein & Reeb 2018b), occurring in bark, rock and humic soil. In the West Indies reported from Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe and Martinique ( Meenks 1987).

ILLUSTRATION. — Gradstein & Reeb (2018b).

REMARKS

Riccardia fucoidea is usually dioicous (very rarely autoicous) and recognized by the robust, to 8-10 cm long, ascending to erect, regularly 3-4-pinnate thalli with a thick, rounded axis without wing (rarely rudimentarily winged), with a subepidermis and with short stolons at the base. All branches are broadly winged, the wings are 3-7 cells wide, made up of large hexagonal cells in a regular, grid-like arrangement, c. 35-50 µm wide and 40-75 µm long, vanishing before the apex on ultimate branches, wing margins entire or toothed ( Gradstein & Reeb 2018b). Among the new synonyms, R. virgata represents typical R. fucoidea , R. diablotina is a phenotype with wing cells with conspicuous trigones, and R. distans is a laxly pinnate phenotype of which Stephani (1900: 221) already wrote: “ob diese Pflanze nicht eine sehr laxe Form von Aneura fucoides ist”. The type of R. grossidens ( Aneura grossidens ) is clearly R. fucoidea . The material of R. grossidens recorded from Martinique by Lavocat Bernard (2018) belongs to R. fucoidea . For molecular data, see the remarks on R. hymenophytoides .