Epipterygium tozeri

Hanusch, Maximilian, Ortiz, Edgardo M., Patiño, Jairo & Schaefer, Hanno, 2020, Biogeography and integrative taxonomy of Epipterygium (Mniaceae, Bryophyta), TAXON 69 (6), pp. 1150-1171 : 1160

■ TAXONOMIC TREATMENT OF THE EPIPTERYGIUM TOZERI COMPLEX

The type specimen of Bryum tozeri Grev. (Tozer s.n., E barcode E00007536), the basionym of E. tozeri , in the Edinburgh Herbarium, consists of only two gametophytes, but the original description ( Greville, 1827) is illustrated with six accurate pencil drawings of habitus, leaves and capsules of the species (http://data.rbge.org.uk/herb/E00007536). The type locality is in southwest England. Unfortunately, we could not sequence the type and also did not manage to obtain any topotypic material. Our geographically closest samples are from Ireland, included in the continental European clade. The description and photography of the type specimen also matches best plants from this group, which grow to up to 13 mm, whereas specimens of Macaronesian origin never exceed 4 mm in size. We therefore conclude that our continental European clade represents Epipterygium tozeri (Grev.) Lindb. and provide below formal descriptions for the remaining lineages formerly included in E. tozeri . Due to the lack of sufficient plant material for detailed morphological investigation, we refrain from describing the Iranian population as a distinct species, even though this geographically isolated lineage seems to be clearly different at the molecular level. Though we were not able to obtain usable sequences from Japanese specimens, they showed a set of quantitative and qualitative morphological characters that clearly separate them from the continental European E. tozeri populations (e.g., median and marginal cell lengths, serration of perichaetial leaves). We therefore reinstate the name of Epipterygium nagasakense Broth. for the Japanese populations of Epipterygium .