Heteroscyphus succulentus (Gott.) Schiffn.

Thouvenot, Louis, 2023, A taxonomic revision of the Lophocoleaceae Vanden Berghen (Marchantiophyta) of New Caledonia, Cryptogamie, Bryologie 20 (1), pp. 1-60 : 37-38

Heteroscyphus succulentus (Gott.) Schiffn.

( Fig. 21 )

Oesterreichische Botanische Zeitschrift 60: 171 ( Schiffner 1910). — Chiloscyphus succulentus Gött., Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië 4: 574, 576 ( Gottsche 1853).

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Type: Java. Zollinger 3513 ex parte (iso-, G [ G00114825 ]!).

SPECIMENS EXAMINED. — New Caledoni a. North Province, Ouégoa, Diahot upper valley , 430 m, on siliceous sandy ground on the riverbank, 31.VIII.1951, Hürlimann 2899a ( G); 2901 ( G); Poindimié, Tipwadabwé , Amoa valley , 244 m, on dead wood in river side wet forest, in volcano-sedimentary bedrock, 13.X.2019, Thouvenot NC3286 ( PC [ PC0779844 ]); South Province, Koghis, SE ridge of the Mt. Bouo , 830 m, on dead wood in mountain forest, 12.XI.1950, Hürlimann 2088 ( PC [ PC0763233 ]).

DISTRIBUTION IN NEW CALEDONIA. — New to New Caledonia, in North and South Province.

TOTAL RANGE. — Reported from Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Tahiti ( Piippo 1985, GBIF accessed 29 Sept. 2021).

DESCRIPTION

Habit

Plant large, light green, glossy, fleshy; shoots creeping, 4.00- 4.50 mm wide, leaves subopposite, dorsally free and slightly decurrent, spreading, dorsally assurgent with a convex base, then somewhat secund.

Leaves

Thin, translucent, ovate-oblong to tongue-like, 1.80-2.00 mm long, 1.30-1.50 mm wide at bases, 0.60 wide at apices, typically with apices widely convex and entire, or truncate, with or without 1-celled teeth at angles, atypical leaves obliquely truncate or shortly bifid with triangular lobes separated by a wide sinus, obtuse or lunate; margin crenulate by the protruding bulging cells.

Cells

Hexagonal, 40-60 µm in upper half of the leaves, becoming elongate in basal part, up to 100 µm long, walls thin, without trigones, bulging so that leaf surface looks rough.

Underleaves

Narrowly connate to both nearest leaves,reniform in outline, 0.75- 1.25 mm long, 1.25-2.50 mm wide, deeply bifid, lobes widely divergent,decurved,long lanceolate acuminate with linear apices, sinus widely lunate to flat, disc transversally rectangular, lateral margins with 2(-3) laciniae similar to the lobes; cells bulging.

Gametangia

Not seen.

COMMENTS

Heteroscyphus succulentus looks superficially like H. deplanchei but can easily be distinguished by: 1) a fleshy appearance; 2) large, thin-walled, leaf cells without trigones; 3) dorsal margins of paired leaves not connate; and 4) the leaf surface appearing uneven and glossy because of the strongly bulging cells.For differences with H. cornutistipulus see above the relevant paragraph.

The species was never formally reported from New Caledonia, although Hürlimann collected a specimen in South Province in 1950 labelled Heteroscyphus cf. succulentus (PC, GOET, G) (unpublished). Parts of this material in PC and G were checked, together with further specimens, and the presence of this species in both provinces of the main island, Grande-Terre, can be confirmed. The whole range of the species in New Caledonia remains under-documented.

Figures

FIG. 21. — Heteroscyphus succulentus (Gottsche) Schiffn.: A, shoot portion, ventral view; B, leaf; C, atypical leaf apex; D, F, underleaves; E, leaf cells. All drawn from the isotype of Chiloscyphus succulentus GÖtt. (G00114825). Scale bars: A-D, F, 1 mm; E, 50 µm.