Aerobryopsis

• Authority

  Sharp, Aaron J., et al. 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. Part Two: Orthotrichales to Polytrichales. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 69 (2)

• Family

  Meteoriaceae

• Scientific Name

  Aerobryopsis

• Description

  Genus Description - Plants slender to moderately robust, pale-green, yellowish, brownish, or blackish, often pendent. Secondary stems long and flexuose, irregularly pinnate. Stem and branch leaves similar, erect- to wide-spreading, sometimes ± complanate, concave, broadly lanceolate, acuminate, often undulate above; margins serrulate; costa single, slender, extending beyond the midleaf; cells linear, 1-4 papillose, those at the base shorter and laxer, not differentiated in the alar regions. Setae elongate, rather rough; capsules exserted, erect or slightly inclined; annulus well developed; exostome teeth papillose; segments of the endostome papillose. Calyptrae cucullate, sparsely hairy. The genus shows widely spreading leaves that are lance-acuminate and singly costate, with linear, l^t-papillose cells. The alar cells are scarcely differentiated.

• Discussion

  [According to Buck (1991 and 1992, in pers. comm.), the genus Aerobryopsis does not occur in the Americas. He would transfer A. mexicana to the genus Pseudotrachypus. In his opinion, tropical American material referred to A. longissima may be a melange of misplaced specimens. H e also considers A. mexicana and Pseudotrachypus pinnatus to be synonymous with Papillaria martinicensis, and w e have followed his lead in respect to synonymy.—Editors.]