Didymodon ochyrarum (Pottiaceae, Bryophyta), a new Andean species from tropical South America

Abstract

Abstract A new moss species, Didymodon ochyrarum J.A. Jiménez & M.J. Cano, is described and illustrated from the tropical Andean highlands of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. The species is distinguished morphologically by its lanceolate to long-lanceolate leaves that are strongly appressed when dry, leaf base widely ovate, acute apices, plane leaf margins and distally bistratose, excurrent costa, epapillose laminal cells, and marginal basal cells running up the margin forming a distinctly differentiated area of transversely thick-walled cells. Drawings and light microscope photographs of the new species are provided, and possible confusion with other closely related taxa is discussed.