Cheilolejeunea rodneyi Bever. & Glenny (Lejeuneaceae, Marchantiopsida), a newly described species from lowland indigenous forest sites in the Tararua Ecological District, North Island of New Zealand.

Abstract

Cheilolejeunea rodneyi Bever. & Glenny, a new species of liverwort from lowland indigenous forest reserves in the Tararua Ecological District near Wellington in the North Island of New Zealand is described and illustrated. In both morphology and phylogeny, it is closest to the recently-described C. morganii Bever. & Glenny, with which it shares monoicy, pycnolejeuneoid innovation leaf sequences, a pentacarinate perianth with long rostrum and absence of large botryoidal oil-bodies, but differs in having a single or two-celled uniseriate second tooth, a large extal lobule papilla, a cylindrical rostrum, oil-bodies with large, usually homogeneous segments, and the common presence of cladia. Its addition to the New Zealand flora brings the total species of Cheilolejeunea to 11, four of which are endemic.