Seligeria Bruch & Schimp., Bryol. Eur.

Fedosov, Vladimir E., Fedorova, Alina V., Ignatova, Elena A. & Ignatov, Michael S., 2017, A revision of the genus Seligeria (Seligeriaceae, Bryophyta) in Russia inferred from molecular data, Phytotaxa 323 (1), pp. 27-50 : 43-44

Seligeria Bruch & Schimp., Bryol. Eur. 2: 7. 1846.

Type species: S. pusilla (Hedw.) Bruch & Schimp. (Type: Central Europe, G-Hedw.)

Plants gregarious or forming compact tufts and cushions on calcareous rocks, light or dark green to blackish. Stems weakly branched, mostly less than 3 mm long; central strand lacking or weakly differentiated. Leaves twisted to erect when dry, erect-spreading to spreading and sometimes slightly curved when moist; ovate-lanceolate, linear or with ovate base and subulate acumen, acute or obtuse; margins plane, entire to serrate, unistratose; costa gradually narrowed distally, ending below leaf apex, percurrent or excurrent, filling the subula; distal laminal cells short rectangular, with the length/width ratio mostly more than 1.5:1, rarely subquadrate, mostly smooth; basal leaf cells similar to upper cells or longer and hyaline, mostly short rectangular, thin-walled; alar cells not differentiated. Perichaetial leaves not or weakly differentiated. Autoicous. Setae very short to moderately long, stout. Capsules erect, symmetric, ovate, pyriform, globose or turbinate. Peristome teeth 16, lanceolate, triangular, or trapezoidal, entire, trabeculate on the outer surface, smooth or weakly papillose, sometimes reduced to lacking. Operculum rostrate, sometimes systilious, remaining attached to the exserted columella. Annulus not differentiated. Calyptra cucullate, smooth Spores 8–32 μm, thin-walled, smooth or finely papillose.

Subgen. Seligeria

Included species: S. pusilla , S. acutifolia , * S. cardotii R. Brown (1898: 398) , * S. careyana Vitt & W.B. Schofield (1976: 232) , * S. paucifolia ( Withering 1801: 7) Carruthers (1866: 39) (species referred to the subgenus based on morphology only are marked by asterisk).

The subgenus Seligeria in the present analysis includes two species, S. pusilla and S. acutifolia . The obvious close relationship of these species (the latter was treated as a variety or subspecies of the former ( Schimper 1876, Podpěra 1954)) may indicate recent divergence of the species, so they are still not saturated with mutations in the studied DNA regions.

Subgen. Anodus (Bruch & Schimp.) Boulay, Musc. France, Mousses 539. 1884– Anodus Bruch & Schimp., Bryol. Eur. 2: 3 (fasc. 33-36. Mon. 1). 1846.

Included species: S. donniana .

According to the obtained topology we consider S. galinae to be conspecific with S. donniana (expanded discussion see below).

Subgen. Megalosporia Vitt – Trochobryum Breidl. & Beck, Verh. K.K. Zool. - Bot. Ges. Wien 34: 106. 1885?

Included species: S. tristichoides , S. oelandica , S. trifaria , S. calcarea , S. patula , * S. carniolica (species referred to the subgenus based on morphology only are marked by asterisk).

Seligeria subg. Megalosporia is expanded here by the inclusion of S. calcarea . The latter species was included by Vitt (1976) in the subgenus Anodus , while Ochyra et al. (2003) segregated it in a separate section of the subg. Anodus . Although Seligeria calcarea differs from other species of the subgenus Megalosporia in having ovoid to short-cylindrical rather than turbinate urns, its spores are larger than in S. donniana (14–19 μm vs. 8–11 μm) and costa is broader, being similar to other species of the subgenus Megalosporia . The unresolved position of Seligeria trifaria , S. tristichoides , S. patula , and S. calcarea is surprising, as at least some of them seem to have a distinctive morphology.

Subgen. Robustidontia Fedosov , subg. nov.

Type species: Seligeria brevifolia (Lindb.) Lindb. & Arnell

Diagnosis: The subgenus is characterized by a combination of small-sized plants, absence of a stem central strand and turbinate capsules (indicating the position of S. brevifolia in the genus Seligeria s. str.) and the unique exothecium cells, which are rectangular and moderately thick-walled; enormously robust, finely papillose peristome teeth and short funnel-shaped (infundibularis) calyptra are another distinguishing characters of the subgenus Robustidontia .

Description: Plants small, light to bluish green. Stem simple. Leaves linear-lanceolate to linear, acute, acuminate to subulate at apex. Costae of the same width throughout. Leaf cells rectangular both in basal and distal leaf portions. Capsules mostly long turbinate to obovate, widest at the mouth when mature. Peristome teeth reddish, long and robust, arcuate-reflexed to appressed to the capsule wall when dry.

Included species: S. brevifolia