Notothylas flabellata (Notothyladaceae, Anthocerotopyta), an Afro-American hornwort newly found in Mexico

Abstract

Notothylas flabellata is reported for the first time in Mexico and North America, previously known only from Argentina in the American continent. This species was originally described from Africa. This species is characterized by absence of columella, dark brown to black tuberculate spores with distal hump-like globular projections and sub-quadrate to rectangular pseudoelaters with brown spiral-annular bands. In North America, this species might be confused with N. breutelii, but it can be differentiated by the presence of a columella in N. breutelii, and spore and pseudoelater ornamentation. Light microscopy photographs of N. flabellata and N. breutelii are provided. The new record increases the species number of Notothylas in North America to four.