Hypnobartlettia Fontana - An Unusual Endemic Aquatic Moss is No More
Hypnobartlettia fontana was described in 1985. At the time the moss was believed so unsual that it was placed in its own genus, and a new, monogeneric family Hypnobartlettiaceae was erected to accommodate it (Ochyra 1985). However, the status of this moss, known only from sterile specimens all collected from one site, the famous Pupu Springs, near Takaka, Golden Bay, South Island has never been widely accepted.In her revision of “The Mosses of New Zealand” Dr Jessica Beever opined that Hypnobartlettia was probably a form of the widespread and very variable moss Cratoneuropsis relaxa (Beever et al. 1992). Now Beever and Dr Allan Fife of the Allan Herbarium, Landcare Research, have shown that Beever’s suggestion is indeed the case (Beever & Fife 2008). Further, they reveal that molecular data seemingly supporting Hypnobartlettia is confused, and conflicting especially as some of the vouchers ascribed to published sequences are dubious or incorrectly identified. Therefore, their recommendation is that Hypnobartlettia be regarded as nothing more than part of the natural variation within the widespread, indigenous non-threatened moss Cratoneuropsis relaxa.
Their conclusions mean that Hypnobartlettia is now no longer regarded as an uncommon, endemic moss. A pleasing result which at last removes some of the past ambiguity over whether the moss deserved special conservation management or not.
References
Beever, J.; Allison, K.W.; Child, J. 1992: The mosses of New Zealand. University of Otago Press.
Beever, J.E.; Fife, A.J. 2008: Hypnobartlettia fontana is an environmental form of Cratoneuropsis relaxa (Bryophyta: Amblystegiaceae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 46: 341-345.
Ochyra R 1985. Hypnobartlettia fontana gen. et sp. nov. (Musci: Hypnobartlettiaceae fam. nov.), a unique moss from New Zealand. Lindbergia 11: 2–8.
Posted: 31/07/2008