Klazenga • Report of the Nomenclature Committee for Bryophytes
TAXON 65 (5) • October 2016: 1152
Report of the Nomenclature Committee for Bryophytes: 12
Niels Klazenga
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Birdwood Avenue, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia; [email protected]
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12705/655.15
Summary The following three names of bryophytes are recommended for conservation: Leptodontium proliferum against Tortula
umbrosa, Vesicularia (Müll. Hal.) Müll. Hal. against Vesicularia P. Micheli ex Targ. Tozz. and Bryum pallescens against Hypnum bore­
ale. The following two names are not recommended for conservation: Gertrudia validinervis against Barbula uncinicoma and Webera
tenuifolia against Bryum humile.
The previous report of this Committee appeared in Taxon 60:
1201–1202. 2011. Current members of the committee are: W.R. Buck
(New York, U.S.A.), D.P. Costa (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), D. Glenny
(Christchurch, New Zealand), L. Hedenäs (Stockholm, Sweden),
M. Ignatov (Moscow, Russia), N. Klazenga (Melbourne, Australia,
secretary), M. von Konrat (Chicago, U.S.A.), N. Konstantinova
(Kirovsk, Russia), M. Price (Geneva, Switzerland), J. van Rooy (Pretoria, South Africa), B.C. Tan (Berkeley, U.S.A.), J. Váña (Prague,
Czech Republic) and R.-L. Zhu (Shanghai, China). With 13 members,
the Committee requires 8 votes to achieve the 60% majority needed
to recommend acceptance or rejection of a proposal. The Committee voted on five new proposals and one proposal from before the
Melbourne IBC in one ballot in June 2016. A decision was reached
on three of the six proposals. Votes are recorded in the order accept : ​
reject : ​abstain.
This report also includes two proposals, those on Gertrudia vali­
dinervis (1900) and Webera tenuifolia (2001), that were rejected before
the Melbourne IBC, but were not included in the previous report due
to time constraints because of the imminent IBC. The composition
of the committee at that time, also with 13 members, was as in the
previous report.
(1811) Conserve Leptodontium proliferum Herzog against Tor­
tula umbrosa Dusén [Musci]. Proposed by M.J. Cano & M.T. Gallego
in Taxon 57: 642–643. 2008. Votes: 8 : 3 : 2 (recommended).
Leptodontium proliferum is a relatively well known species
from South America and southern Africa. During a revision of South
American material the authors discovered that the type of Tortula
umbrosa, which antedates Leptodontium proliferum by ten years,
belongs to the same taxon. The proposers seek to preserve current
usage of the name Leptodontium proliferum by conserving the name
against Tortula umbrosa. In the second ballot on this proposal, the
required majority of the committee voted in favour of conservation.
(1900) Conserve Gertrudia validinervis Herzog against Barbula
uncinicoma Müll. Hal. [Musci]. Proposed by J.A. Jiménez & M.J.
Cano in Taxon 58: 1006. 2009. Votes: 5 : 8 : 0 (rejected).
Gertrudiella validinervis is a reasonably well-established species of South American pottiaceous mosses. Barbula uncinicoma
is another case of an older name that resurfaced in a revision of
South American type material. There was an issue with the typification of G. validinervis in the proposal, which was not satisfactorily
resolved on contacting the author and which we did not seek to
resolve further, as the majority of the committee had voted against
conservation.
1152
(2001) Conserve Webera tenuifolia A. Jaeger against Bryum
humile Mont. [Musci]. Proposed by G.M. Suárez in Taxon 60: 591.
2011. Votes 5 : 8 : 0 (rejected).
Pohlia tenuifolia (A. Jaeger) Broth. is a reasonably well-known
species that is widely distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. In a
recent revision P. tenuifolia was found to be synonymous with the so
far largely neglected P. humilis (Mont.) Broth. Therefore, the author
proposed to conserve Webera tenuifolia A. Jaeger against Bryum
humile Mont. The majority of the Committee, which had quite strong
representation from the Australasian bioregion where Pohlia tenui­
folia has been in use, felt that there is no case for conservation.
(2017) Conserve Vesicularia (Müll. Hal.) Müll. Hal. [Musci]
against Vesicularia P. Micheli ex Targ. Tozz. [Algae]. Proposed by
G. Zijlstra & P.C. Silva in Taxon 60: 905–906. 2011. Votes: 12 : 0 : 1
(recommended).
Vesicularia is the name of a rather well-known genus of mosses.
It is also the name of an algal genus of which the identity is uncertain.
Unfortunately the name of the algal genus predates the name for the
moss, so the authors proposed to conserve the bryophyte name against
the algal one. A large majority of the committee voted in favour of
the proposal.
(2384) Conserve Bryum pallescens Schwägr. against Hypnum
boreale F. Weber & D. Mohr [Musci]. Proposed by R. Ochyra &
H. Bednarek-Ochyra in Taxon 64: 1053–1054. 2015. Votes: 10 : 2 : 1
(recommended).
Bryum boreale has historically been attributed to Schwägrichen (Sp. Musc. Frond. Suppl. 1(2): 107, t. 75. 1 Jan–9 May 1816), who
published Bryum pallescens at the same time, while it was, in fact,
published nine years earlier, as Hypnum boreale, by Weber and Mohr
(Bot. Taschenbuch: 287, 483. 12 Apr 1807). Therefore, considering the
taxa conspecific, Bruch & al. (Bryol. Europ. 4: 122. 1839) reduced
H. boreale to a variety of B. pallescens, B. pallescens var. borealis.
Since then, 1839, B. boreale has always been considered taxonomically
associated with B. pallescens. Ochyra and Bednarek-Ochyra (in Nova
Hedwigia 93: 531. 2011) lectotypified Hypnum boreale in a way that
it does not affect the nomenclatural status of B. pallescens and, at
the same time, concluded that it is synonymous with B. pallescens.
As Bryum pallescens is included in every moss flora in the Northern
Hemisphere, and others, as well as in many phytogeographical and
ecological accounts, while B. boreale has only ever been included as a
synonym or variety of B. pallescens, the authors propose to conserve
Bryum pallescens against Hypnum boreale. Acceptance of this proposal will preserve almost 200 years of usage of these names. Therefore, a majority of the committee felt that conservation is warranted.
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