Symphysodontella cylindracea
Common name
Moss
Family
Pterobryaceae
Flora category
Non-vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Mosses
Current conservation status
- Conservation status of New Zealand mosses, 2014 (PDF, 583.87 kB)
The conservation status of 109 New Zealand moss taxa was assessed using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). Four taxa and one undescribed entity that were not included in previous assessments have been added to the list. The conservation status of only two taxa has changed in this assessment. A full list is presented, along with a statistical summary and brief notes on the changes. This list replaces all previous NZTCS lists for mosses. Authors: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Allan J. Fife, Jessica E. Beever, Patrick J. Brownsey and Rodney A. Hitchmough.
- Conservation status of New Zealand hornworts and liverworts, 2014 (PDF, 695.44 kB)
The conservation status of the New Zealand hornwort and liverwort flora is reassessed using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). A full list is presented, along with a statistical summary and brief notes on the most important changes. This list replaces all previous NZTCS lists for New Zealand hornworts and liverworts which previously had been part of a generic bryophyte conservation status assessment that included mosses. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, David Glenny, John Braggins, Matt Renner, Matt von Konrat, John Engel, Catherine Reeb and Jeremy Rolfe.
Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2009 | Data Deficient | Qualifiers: SO
Distribution
Indigenous. New Zealand: Kermadec Islands (Raoul Island). Widespread in the Pacific from about the Philippines southeast to about the Cooks and Tahiti
Habitat
The sole Kermadec Island gathering came from the ‘wet’ forest type on Raoul Island where it was collected from the basal trunk of a hutu (Ascarina lucida var. lanceolata) lying amongst cyclone-toppled branches of Kermadec pohutukawa (Metrosideros kermadecensis). This species is apparently a common moss of forested islands throughout the Pacific and it usually grows on exposed tree roots, trunks and branches in closed forest situations. On Raoul Island the species has a superficial similarity to another moss genus Camptochaete two species of which are known from there, so it is possible that it has been overlooked.
Detailed description
Pale green to pinkish-green lustrous moss. Corticolous or terricolous. Secondary stems rigid, ± frondose from a short wiry stipe up to 50 mm long (rarely longer). Leaves oblong-ovate, deeply concave, abruptly short-acuminate; margins entire, broadly inflexed above; costa faint, variable, short and double or unequally forked within one branch extending nearly to mid leaf; cells narrowly linear, smooth, with firm, pale walls, short, porose, and golden brown across insertion. Perichaetial leaves erect. Seta very short; capsule immersed, cylindrical, narrowed towards mouth, urn up to 3 mm long; peristome teeth pale yellow, pellucid, equidistant, smooth, with a median furrow, deeply inserted; calyptra cucullate; spores papillose (n/b Fruiting material not seen in the Kermadec Islands specimen).
Fruiting
Fruiting material not seen in the Kermadec Islands specimen
Threats
Known only from a single gathering made from Raoul Island during the May 2011 Kermadec Biodiscovery Expedition. That specimen was collected from the basal trunk of a hutu (Ascarina lucida var. lanceolata) lying amongst cyclone-toppled branches of Kermadec pohutukawa (Metrosideros kermadecensis) on the south-eastern side of the island near Mahoe. As no further specimens were collected at this stage it seems best to assign this species a threat assessment of ‘Data Deficient’.
Substrate
Corticolous on hutu (Ascarina lucida var. lanceolata).
Attribution
Fact Sheet Prepared for NZPCN by: P.J. de Lange 13 October 2011. Description adapted from Bartram (1939)
References and further reading
Bartram, E.D. 1939: Mosses of the Philippines. The Philipine Journal of Science 68: 1-437.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Symphysodontella cylindracea Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/symphysodontella-cylindracea/ (Date website was queried)