Two new Zoopsis species and their relationships to other zoopsids (Jungermanniopsida: Lepidoziaceae)

Abstract

We describe and illustrate two highly distinctive new species of Zoopsis from New Zealand. To assess their relationships to other species we performed parsimony and splits-based analysis of morphological data. Our analysis resolves Zoopsis bicruris as a member of subgenus Zoopsis, but is inconclusive with respect to the affinities of Z. matawaia. Our analysis groups Zoopsis matawaia with Z. ceratophylla and Zoopsidella caledonica, on the basis of their shared possession of caducous leaf lobes. The interpretation of this character as a defining apomorphy is at odds with currently accepted hypotheses of character evolution, which regard it as symplesiomorphic, and regard reduced seta anatomy as an apomorphy defining Zoopsidella. However, trees constrained to retain Zoopsidella as a monophyletic unit were two steps longer than unconstrained trees, and had slightly poorer measures of support. Our analysis resolves Monodactylopsis nested within Zoopsidella, which is in turn nested within Zoopsis, and identifies Hyalolepidozia as sister to a clade corresponding to the Zoopsidoideae with moderate bootstrap support.