Zoopsis setulosa Leitg.
Zoopsis setulosa Leitg., Mitth. Naturwiss. Vereins Steiermark 6: 24. 1876.
Cephalozia setulosa (Leitg.) Spruce, Cephalozia 27. 1882.
Type: New Zealand, North Is., “um Auckland,” Novara Expedition.
[Plate 9D, G, H; Fig. 110: 3, oil-bodies, p. 486]
Plants ribbon-like, pale green, markedly nitid when dry, to 600 µm wide. Branching common, the branches usually mostly of Frullania type; ventral-intercalary branches also common, often geotropic and microphyllous. Axes planoconvex, consisting of 2 rows of dorsal cortical cells, the cells very large, isodiametric or wider than high, their inner margins forming a zigzag median line; ventral cortical cells in 4 rows: 2 lateral rows (= lower cells of lateral merophytes) on each side subequal to the dorsal cortical cells, and 2 rows of cells constituting the ventral merophytes rather broad, the cells smaller than those of the 2 lateral rows, subquadrate; medulla of 19–22 rows of small cells forming a central strand. Leaves distinctly projecting laterally, each typically separated on the same side of axis by less than half of a marginal cortical cell; leaf consisting of two 1-celled, ovoid-conoidal basal cells connate to each other for 0.5–0.65 their length, the apices broadly rounded, each bearing a 2-celled setose appendage; appendages conspicuous, attached by the narrow basal-lateral side of the basal cell, arched to geniculate, the distal cell tapered to the summit, curved over the basal leaf cell, the surface of the appendage cells strongly papillose. Oil-bodies 5–10 per thallus cell, occupying a very small portion of volume of lumen, hyaline, moderately botryoidal, elliptic to linear to fusiform to crescentic, 5.8–7.7 × 17.8–20.6 µm, a few smaller, more broadly elliptic and 5.3–6.2 × 11.5–14.4 µm, a few linear and 4.3 × 17.3 µm. (In a short time the spherules enlarge and the oil-body perimeter becomes irregularly bulged.) Claw-like cells of the leaf lobes thick-walled, with numerous chloroplasts, but with fewer and considerably smaller oil-bodies, only 2.9 × 3.8–5.3 µm. Underleaves separated by 2 tiers of 2 cells each, rudimentary, consisting of 2–4 subspherical basal cells (“disc”) and two 1-celled “lobes,” the lobe cells each terminating in a hyaline papilla. Asexual reproduction lacking.
Androecia and gynoecia not seen.
Distribution and Ecology : Endemic to New Zealand: Stewart Island (20–30 m), South Island (130–630 m), North Island ([240]720–890 m); Australia: Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales (Meagher and Fuhrer, 2003). Known in New Zealand from Fiordland, Westland, Western Nelson, Auckland and Northland (Waipoua) EPs.
Sporadic and scattered sites over a broad range, occurring on Stewart Island, on the South Island in Westland north to the Marino Mtns. in Nelson, and in the North Island in scattered, mostly middle-elevation stations, e.g., at 720–750 m in the Herangi Ra. (S of Kawhia Harbor), 880–890 m on Mt. Te Aroha, 835 m on Table Mtn., 650–680 m on the Hauturu Highpoint Track and 800 m on Mt. Moehau. The species occurs in shaded, protected, humid niches within forests. It occurs over peaty soil in well-shaded hollows or pockets, a characteristic niche, and in such situations it may cover large areas. Also, in the Herangi Ra. (S of Te Whakapatiki), on soil of a small vertical bank in a very narrow and shallow water channel in a small valley system, with vegetation consisting of Podocarpus hallii, Dracophyllum traversii and Weinmannia to 3–5 m tall. In the Paparoa Ra. (upper slopes of N side of Tiropahi River) over soil under a granitic ledge at 130–170 m in dense scrub dominated by Nothofagus menziesii and N. solandri with scattered Dacrydium cupressinum, Freycinetia baueriana, Dicksonia squarrosa, Coprosma spp. and Brachyglottis. On Stewart Island (Fern Gully Track) over humus of the floor in a forest with a canopy of Fuchsia excorticata and Griselinia littoralis, and an understory of Blechnum discolor. Species associated with Z. setulosa are Bazzania adnexa, B. nitida, Cryptopodium bartramioides, Distichophyllum kraussei, D. pulchellum, Hymenophyton leptopodum, Kurzia hippuroides, Lepidozia spinosissima, Leucobryum candidum, Psiloclada clandestina, Rhizogonium distichum, Thuidium furfurosum and Wijkia extenuata.
Comments : A distinctive species, recognizable at a glance because of the leaves, which are closely contiguous and formed of two large chlorophyllous cells, each free distally, so that the leaf appears bilobed, bearing a hooked, slender, 2-celled “appendix.” The precise arrangement of the leaves lends a distinctive, crisp regularity to the plants vs. the somewhat irregularly scalloped margins of shoots of Zoopsis argentea. The surface of the incurved appendices is roughened, while the surface of the chlorophyllous cells is smooth. The leaves are closely juxtaposed on each side of the stem and only a fraction of one cortical cell intervenes between leaf bases.
