A New Terrestrial Genus and Species Within the Aquatic Liverwort Family Riellaceae (Sphaerocarpales) from Australia

Abstract

AbstractA new genus Austroriella Cargill & Milne and species Austroriella salta Milne & Cargill within the family Riellaceae is described. Known only from the type location at the margins of a saline lake in Western Australia it is the first record and description of a terrestrial species within this typically aquatic family. Female plants are typical of the family with a single reduced wing bearing a row of archegonia; male plants are not typical and are naviculate in form enclosing several rows of enclosed antheridia not unlike the males of Sphaerocarpos. Unlike Sphaerocarpos this species does bear oil bodies. Differences and affinities are also outlined briefly with closely related genera within the order Sphaerocarpales.