A Taxonomic Revision Of Chinese Cololeieunea

Cololejeunea(Spruce)Steph,(Lejeuneaceae)is a large genus of liverworts.There are more than 400 species in the world and about 70 species in China.Taxonnomists are interested in subgenus division since this genus was established.However,the Taxonomically Complex Groups(TCG)in Cololejeunea are less studied because of the difficulty on identifying the specimens at the species level or sublayer.Therefore,it is urgent to resolve these clashes by combining morphological evidence and molecular data with more specimens of related species.In this study,we provided a systematically taxonomic revision of Chinese Cololejeunea based on the abundant specimens collected from China and other countries in the Asian-Pacific region.We focused on the unresolved TCG through employing the molecular phylogenetic analyses by adding more reliable DNA samples.The phylogenetic trees were constructed with Maximum Parsimony(MP),Maximum Likelihood(ML)and Bayesian Inference(BI)using data combined the nuclear ribosomal ITS region and the two plastid regions(trnL-F,rbcL).We aim to find the valuable distinguished characters for TCG as well as non-TCG from the exploratory work.The results are briefly as follows:1)A new species is found in Maoershan Nature Reserve from Guangxi Province,China.It is described and illustrated as Cololejeunea maoershanensis R.L.Zhu et Y.J.Li sp.nov.2)We found that the stylus could be used as a key distinguished character in resolving the Cololejeunea trichomanis TCG.Cololejeunea tixieriana M.Dey,D.Singh et D.K.Singh is reinstated as a distinct species here.3)It is reliable that Cololejeunea indica Pande et Misra could separate from Cololejeunea spinosa(Horik.)Pande et R.N.Misra as a distinct species based on our molecular phylogeny since C.indica was sperated again from C.spinosa because of their difference in morphology recently.4)The morphological variation of Cololejeunea madothecoides(Steph.)Benedix is well defined after analyzing the molecular experiment data combined with morphology.The lobule's variation of C.madothecoides is still belongs to the intraspecific variation compared with the distinct structure of this species.We consider this is adaptations for different habitats.5)We made a taxonomic revision of Cololejeunea in China with 80 species in total and provided a new key to species.In this study,some conundrums in Cololejeunea are taxonomically dealed.The biodiversity and distribution of Chinese Cololejeunea are brought to light.It laid a foundation for the world revision of Cololejeunea and could benefit the protection of bryophytes.