A Reconsideration of the Systematic Position of Jonesiobryum

Abstract

Jonesiobryum is removed from the Funariaceae and placed in the Rhachitheciaceae. The names Jonesiobryum Bizot & P6cs ex Allen & Pursell, J. cerradense, Vital ex Allen & Pursell, J. sphaerocarpum Bizot ex Allen & Pursell, and J. termitarum Vital ex Allen & Pursell are validated. A key to the species is provided. The paleotropics of Africa and the neotropics of the Americas share a number of physical and cli- matic features. Furthermore, these areas are histor- ically linked, formerly having been contiguous regions of the southern supercontinent, Gondwana- land. Thus it is reasonable to suppose that the con- tinents should be floristically similar. Unfortunate- ly, early floristic work in South America and Africa was neither pragmatically nor theoretically coor- dinated. These circumstances have obscured the ex- tent of the floristic relationships between the two continents. A summary of the floristic relationships of the hepatics between these two areas was provided by Gradstein et al. (1983), while Buck and Griffin (1984) and Reese (1985) did the same for the mosses. More recently Reese and Orbain (1986) emphasized the need for continued investigations into the relation- ships of the bryophytes found on the two continents. The distribution of Jonesiobryum documents a typ- ical floristic pattern between Africa and South America. Indeed, Egunyomi and Vital (1984) con- sidered Jonesiobryum an important link in under- standing the bryofloristic relationship between the tropics of Africa and South America. However, the systematic position of Jonesiobryum has not been critically examined since its original description. New information on the genus now necessitates a reexamination of the systematic affinities of the ge- nus. In addition, there have been persistent prob- lems with the nomenclatural validation of the genus and its species.

Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher. Read at the source ↗

The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.