Rauiella niveo-calycina (Thuidiaceae, Musci) is a new synonym of R. praelonga

Guillermo M. Suárez¹ and María M. Schiavone²

¹Fundación Miguel Lillo, Miguel Lillo 251, San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina. CONICET. e-mail: suarezgm@csnat.unt.edu.ar
²Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e I. M. L. Miguel Lillo 205, San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina.

Summary: Rauiella niveo-calycina (Müll. Hal) Wijk & Marg. is proposed as a new synonym of R. praelonga (Schimp. ex Besch) Wijk & Marg. The species treated is discussed briefly.

Key words: Rauiella niveo-calycina; R. praelonga; Thuidiaceae; Neotropics.

Resumen: Rauiella niveo-calycina es un sinónimo nuevo de R. praelonga. R. niveo-calycina (Müll. Hal) Wijk& Marg. es propuesta en este trabajo como un sinónimo nuevo de R. praelonga (Schimp. ex Besch) Wijk & Marg. La especie tratada es brevemente discutida.

Palabras clave: Rauiella niveo-calycina; R. praelonga; Thuidiaceae; Neotrópico.

Rauiella niveo-calycina (Müll. Hal) Wijk & Marg. was originally described as Thuidium niveo-calycina Müll. Hal. The type material collected in «Argentinia subtropica, Chaco, San Andrés, Sept. 1873, P. G. Lorentz», according to the literature, had not been found until now. Gier (1981) considered it as a good species, distinguished by the whitish color of the perichaetial leaves, a character described in Müeller's protologue.
However, Buck (1991) doubts about the distinction of R. niveo-calycina from the two neotropical species, R. lagoensis or R. praelonga, a criterion shared by Schiavone & Suárez (2007).
During a visit to the Herbarium of the Natural History Museum of Finland in Helsinki (H), we were able to locate the type material. It includes few plants, brown greenish with lax and irregular branches and small leaves with pluripapillose cells. Our observations confirm that R. niveo-calycina is indistinguishable from R. praelonga. Thus, we here propose it as new synonym.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to personal and curators at H. This research was funded by a grant from the Myndel Botanica Foundation and CIUNT.

Bibliography

1. BUCK, W. R. 1991. The generic placement of Anomodon lagoensis. The Bryologist 94: 82-83.         [ Links ]

2. GIER, L. J. 1980. A preliminary study of the Thuidiaceae (Musci) of Latin America. J. Bryol. 11: 253-309.         [ Links ]

3. SCHIAVONE, M. M. & G. M. SUÁREZ. 2007. Las Thuidiaceae en el Noroeste de Argentina. Bol. Soc. Argent. Bot. 42: 211-230.         [ Links ]

Recibido el 25 de Junio del 2008,
aceptado el 19 de Agosto del 2008.