Ignatova, E.A., I.V. Czernyadjeva & V.E. Fedosov. 2024. A new species of Cynodontium (Rhabdoweisiaceae, Bryophyta) from Russia with comments on related species

Arctoa (2024) 33: 24–30

doi: 10.15298/arctoa.33.04

Cynodontium caucasicum Ignatova & Fedosov is described as a species new for science from the Russian Caucasus based on morphological study and previously published plastid and mitochondrial molecular data. Its distinctions from closely related C. gracilescens and C. asperifolium are discussed. The Caucasian specimens were erroneously reported earlier under the name C. fallax. The latter species is identical to the Caucasian plants in plastid (trnS-rps4 and trnL-F) and mitochondrial (nad5) DNA sequences, but morphological distinctions between them are bigger than between the Caucasian plants and C. gracilescens or C. asperifolium. Cynodontium caucasicum is confirmed for the Russian Caucasus and for Georgia, and it likely occurs also in Central Europe.