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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Functional Plant Ecology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1451005
This article is part of the Research Topic Dispersal Ecology of Land Plants: Striving Towards a More Universal Understanding View all 4 articles

Unveiling the diversification and dispersal of the Lewinskya firma complex (Orthotrichaceae, Bryophyta) across Africa and India

Provisionally accepted
Francisco Lara Francisco Lara 1,2Raúl Díaz San Román Raúl Díaz San Román 1Mario Fernández-Mazuecos Mario Fernández-Mazuecos 1,2Juan A. Calleja Alarcón Juan A. Calleja Alarcón 1,2Maren Flagmeier Maren Flagmeier 1Vicente Mazimpaka Vicente Mazimpaka 1,2Ricardo Garilleti Ricardo Garilleti 3Isabel Draper Isabel Draper 1,2*
  • 1 Área de Botánica, Departamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
  • 2 Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Spain
  • 3 Departamento de Botánica y Geología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Valencia, Burjassot, Spain

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Intercontinental disjunctions are one of the most attractive and interesting biogeographical patterns. Bryophytes often exhibit such distributions, which is partly explained by their great ability to disperse over long distances. However, such intercontinental ranges are sometimes a distorted reality caused by the existence of unnoticed species. This study investigates whether the disjunction between East Africa and southern India of the moss Lewinskya firma reflects the genuine distribution of a single species or implies pseudo-cryptic species (whose morphological differentiation is subtle and have therefore been masked). An integrative taxonomic approach combining morphological and molecular methods (genotyping by sequencing, GBS) was used, based on a representation of samples specifically collected from all the major mountainous regions where this moss occurs. Two species, L. firma s. str. and L. afroindica sp. nov. are involved, whose ranges completely overlap in East Africa, although genetic distance and morphological differences in leaf apex shape, vaginula hairs shape and papillosity, spore ornamentation and peristome constitution and ornamentation allow distinguishing both. In addition, the range of L. afroindica extends into both southern Africa and southern India. The phylogenetic reconstruction obtained shows a certain degree of differentiation of the Indian populations, although they are yet morphologically indistinguishable from African populations. The results thus highlight both the existence of overlooked species and the complexity of bryophyte biogeography.

    Keywords: biogeography, Intercontinental disjunction, Mosses, Orthotrichum firmum, Taxonomy, speciation

    Received: 18 Jun 2024; Accepted: 05 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lara, Díaz San Román, Fernández-Mazuecos, Calleja Alarcón, Flagmeier, Mazimpaka, Garilleti and Draper. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Isabel Draper, Área de Botánica, Departamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

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