Alleniella aegaea Blockeel & Hugonnot (Neckeraceae), a new moss species from the Aegean islands of Greece

Abstract

A new moss species, Alleniella aegaea (Neckeraceae) is described and illustrated from the Greek islands of Crete, Samos and Evvia based on morphological and molecular evidence. According to phylogenetic analysis of nuclear ITS and plastid trnS-F sequences it is sister to A. com planata, which it also morphologically resembles, but it differs from that species e.g. in its distinctly flattened habit, lack of caducous branchlets, more rounded leaf apices, and shorter median laminal cells. Alleniella aegaea is dioicous and the sporophytes remain unknown