Zoopsidella integrifolia (Spruce) R.M.Schust.

  • Authority

    Gradstein, S. Robbert & Ilkiu-Borges, Anna L. 2009. Guide to the plants of Central French Guiana. Part 4. Liverworts and hornworts. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 76 (4): i-iv + 1-140.

  • Family

    Lepidoziaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Zoopsidella integrifolia (Spruce) R.M.Schust.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants 0.8-1.3 mm wide, whitish green, creeping, branching mostly ventral-intercalary, Frullania-type branches present in robust plants. Leaves horizontally inserted, succubous, flat, contiguous to slightly overlapping at base, short decurrent, highly variable in shape, broadly quadrate to asymmetrically ovate to subrectangular, 0.4-0.7 mm long, apical margin ± obliquely truncate, sometimes Cross section of leaf sector. (A-C from Saul, Gradstein 6144, GOET; D-F from Mts. La Fumee, Holz FG-79, GOET). emarginate or asymmetrically rounded and lower at basal end, that end capped by a small, sausage-shaped slime cell, apical end with a small, rounded or slightly elongate slime cell. Cells in midleaf iso- diametrical to rectangular, 40-100 x 25-50 µm, thin-walled, trigones minute. Autoicous. Androecial branches flagelliform, with as many as 8 pairs of small, densely imbricate, bifid bracts. Perianths narrowly cylindrical, mouth with long, bristle-like lacinia. Pic Matecho, 500 m, on soft, decaying wood, humus, and soil over wet rock, often with Riccardia amazonica and Telaranea diacantha. Leaf shape and plant size in Zoopsidella integrifolia vary considerably, and single plants may include the whole range of leaf variation described in Zoopsidella (Fulford, 1968, under Zoopsis; Schuster, 1993). Zoopsidella integrifolia, therefore, may be the only species in the genus, and other described species from tropi¬cal America are synonyms.

  • Distribution

    The species is widespread in northern South America and the West Indies, occurring from sea level to about 2000 m.

    South America| West Indies|