Zoopsis ceratophylla (Spruce) Hamlin
Cephalozia ceratophylla Spruce, Cephalozia 32. 1882.
Paracromastigum ceratophyllum (Spruce) R.M.Schust., J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 26: 276. 1963.
Zoopsidella ceratophylla (Spruce) R.M.Schust., Taxon 18: 57, 87. 1969.
Zoopsis ceratophylla (Spruce) R.M.Schust., Nova Hedwigia 10: 36. 1965, nom. inval., bas. non cit.
Zoopsis ceratophylla (Spruce) Hamlin, Rec. Domin. Mus., Wellington 7: 311. 1972.
Type: Auckland Is., “supra Chiloscyphum notophyllum Taylor,” Hooker.
Cephalozia fissifolia Steph., Sp. Hepat. 3: 314. 1908, syn. fide Schuster (1999a).
Paracromastigum fissifolium (Steph.) R.M.Schust., J. Hattori Bot. Lab. 26: 276. 1963.
Type: Auckland Is., Hooker.
Plants creeping, light to whitish green, pellucid, nitid when dry, large for the genus, leafy shoots to 1.4 mm wide. Branching common, irregular, the branches of Frullania type; ventral-intercalary branches frequent, leafy or stoloniform. Axis subterete, the cortex of 6 rows of cells, the dorsal-most 2 rows of very large, inflated cells, the 2 rows of ventral-lateral cells slightly smaller, the ventral 2 cell rows somewhat but not greatly reduced in size; medulla with 11–15 rows of much smaller, weakly firm-walled cells. Rhizoids few, at underleaf bases only. Leaves strongly succubously inserted, remote to contiguous, widely spreading, plane or essentially so, 270–320 µm wide × 420–550(620) µm long, narrowly oblong to obovate-cuneate, widest in distal half (when not subparallel), nearly symmetrically bilobed to 0.35–0.5; lobes often somewhat spreading, 2–3(4) cells wide at base, formed of (3)5–8 to 10–12 cells, terminating in a uniseriate row of (2)3–5(7) progressively smaller, moniliform cells, the terminal cell sometimes an unspecialized slime papilla; disc 4–5 cells wide at base, the disc rarely with subdivision of cells distally and then to 6–8(10) cells wide, the disc 4–5 cells high (leaf base to sinus base). Cells of leaf disc very large, hyaline, leptodermous, quadrate to hexagonal, (42)45–65(72) × 60–95(115) µm; surface smooth. Oil-bodies (Schuster, 1999a) 10–12 per cell, brownish grey, opaque, finely granular, ellipsoidal to fusiform, 5.5–7 × 11 µm to 6–7 × 16–18 µm. Underleaves relatively large, the 2 lobes each 2–4-celled, terminating in a slime papilla, the disc comprised of 1–2 tiers of 4 cells each. Asexual reproduction by fragmenting or caducous leaf lobes. Fungal partner an ascomycete.
Dioecious. Androecia not seen. Gynoecia on very short, ventral-intercalary branches; bracts and bracteoles much smaller-celled than leaves, bifid to ca. 0.5 or a little less, the lobes terminating in 3–4 strongly elongated cells; disc margins each usually with a few 1-celled teeth and at times a ciliiform process consisting of a uniseriate row of up to 4 strongly elongated cells. Perianth fusiform, cylindrical below, trigonous in distal sector, narrowing toward the mouth, the mouth deeply 6-lobed, the lobes caudate, terminating in 2–3 laterally juxtaposed, distinctly elongated cells that subtend a long, contorted cilium comprised of 4–6 markedly elongated cells (to 8.5:1), the lobes crenulate below the level of the cilium by projecting distal ends of cells, otherwise entire.
Seta with 8 epidermal cell rows and many, much smaller internal cells (Scott, 1969). Capsule not seen.
Distribution and Ecology : Endemic to New Zealand: Auckland Islands, Stewart Island (5–40 m), South Island (35–630 m), North Island (340–940 m). Known from Fiordland (Lake Manapouri), Western Nelson (near Westport) and Southern North Island (Akatarawa Saddle, Tararua Ra.) EPs.
A plant of shaded sites on organic substrates or peaty soil. It occurs over the peaty soil that lines deep hollows at the bases of stumps or dead trees. Also over soil deep in protected niches on the forest floor, at times with a root mass overhang. Also on the sides of bryophyte-covered logs and on tree ferns. On the ridge above Te Kuha, east of Westport, it occurs under Lepidothamnus intermedius forest, associated with Acrobolbus lophocoleoides, Acromastigum anisostomum, Bazzania adnexa, B. hochstetteri, Kurzia hippuroides, Lepidozia spinosissima, Paraschistochila pinnatifolia, Rhizogonium pennatum and Saccogynidium decurvum. On Stewart Island (Freshwater Landing, 5 m), in an open area of swamp growing among leaf litter, it was associated with Telaranea quinquespina below dense Gleichenia ground cover in mosaic communities of stagnant ponds, Sphagnum bog, open Leptospermum scoparium – Dracophyllum heath to 1–2 m tall and dense communities of Gleichenia dicarpa and Empodisma minus.
Comments : Zoopsis ceratophylla is superficially rather similar to Zoopsidella caledonica, both having well-formed, widely spreading, contiguous, symmetrically bilobed leaves with very large cells. Zoopsis ceratophylla may be distinguished by the longer, acuminate leaf lobes with strongly moniliform cells and the caducous leaf apices vs. the always persistent leaf lobes, which are few-celled, triangular and terminate nearly uniformly in 2 cells in Z. caledonica. Cytological distinctions between the two species are distinctive and useful, particularly when the two species grow together. Oil-bodies are opaque, brownish grey and finely granular in Z. ceratophylla vs. glistening, hyaline, smooth and homogeneous or nearly so in Z. caledonica. Seta anatomy differs strikingly between the two plants: 8 rows of outer cell rows and many, much smaller internal cells (Scott, 1969) vs. 8 outer rows and 4 rows of similar-sized internal cells in Z. caledonica. Zoopsis ceratophylla is much less common than Z. caledonica.
