taxonID	type	description	language	source
B35587B1815B7F12FF640C7EFF653FE1.taxon	materials_examined	Type: Cuba, Wright s. n. (PC-Mont., not seen). (Fig. 1)	en	Williams, Z. H., Daniels, A. E. D., Gradstein, S. R. (2025): Cylindrocolea rhizantha (Cephaloziellaceae, Marchantiophyta) - a new record for Asia from the Western Ghats, India. Phytotaxa 721 (3): 295-300, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.721.3.9, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.721.3.9
B35587B1815B7F12FF640C7EFF653FE1.taxon	description	Plants prostrate, slender, pale to olive green, yellowish-brown when dry, 1.2 – 2.5 mm long, 0.4 – 0.6 mm broad, rarely branched. Rhizoids colourless, scattered. Stems delicate, 0.08 – 0.1 mm in cross-section; cortex and medulla not welldifferentiated; cortex in one row of 11 cells, thin-walled, 5 – 10 × 4 – 12 μm, slightly smaller than medullary cells, medullary cells quadrate to polygonal, 6 – 15 × 4 – 18 μm, thin-walled. Leaves distant to contiguous, 0.24 – 0.4 × 0.19 – 0.28 mm, widely spreading, ovate, obliquely inserted to the stem, insertion not extending to the dorsal midline of stem, leaving a 3 – 5 cell rows wide leaf-free strip, bilobed for 1 / 3 to 1 / 2 of its length, subacute at apices; cells thin-walled, without trigones and intermediate thickenings; marginal cells towards apex quadrate to hexagonal, 9 – 18 × 8 – 12 μm; median cells 15 – 22 × 12 – 18 μm; basal cells 16 – 25 × 10 – 16 μm; oil bodies 4 – 9 per cell, elliptical to ovoid or subspherical, 2 – 5 × 1.2 – 2 μm, faintly granular. Underleaves present but very small, 44 – 71 × 12 – 24 μm, 3 – 7 cells long, 1 or 2 cells wide. Autoicous (but plants frequently appearing unisexual). Androecia on main stems; antheridia globose, short-stalked. Gynoecia on long shoots or on short, ventral-intercalary branches; perianth exserted, longer than wide, 0.4 – 0.62 × 0.22 – 0.28 mm, 4 - plicate with 2 faint subsidiary plicae, wider and subentire at mouth, unistratose throughout. Bracts 2 - lobed, larger than vegetative leaves, entire or faintly crenulate at margin. Bracteoles 2 - lobed, 0.32 – 0.6 × 0.22 – 0.26 mm, almost as large as bracts, entire at margin. Capsules ovoid to globose; capsule wall 2 - layered, outer layer with nodular thickenings, inner layer with semi-annular thickenings. Setae delicate, 30 – 42 μm in diameter, made of only 8 cells, 4 outer cells surrounding 4 much smaller inner cells. Spores globose to ovoid, yellowish-green to brownish, 12 – 18 × 10 – 15 μm in diameter, faintly papillose. Elaters bispiralled, reddish-brown, tapering towards ends, 70 – 145 × 6 – 8 μm. Gemmae absent.	en	Williams, Z. H., Daniels, A. E. D., Gradstein, S. R. (2025): Cylindrocolea rhizantha (Cephaloziellaceae, Marchantiophyta) - a new record for Asia from the Western Ghats, India. Phytotaxa 721 (3): 295-300, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.721.3.9, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.721.3.9
B35587B1815B7F12FF640C7EFF653FE1.taxon	biology_ecology	Habitat: On soil, on road-side cuts at c. 650 m.	en	Williams, Z. H., Daniels, A. E. D., Gradstein, S. R. (2025): Cylindrocolea rhizantha (Cephaloziellaceae, Marchantiophyta) - a new record for Asia from the Western Ghats, India. Phytotaxa 721 (3): 295-300, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.721.3.9, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.721.3.9
B35587B1815B7F12FF640C7EFF653FE1.taxon	distribution	Distribution: Tropical and subtropical America (Schuster 1980, Gradstein 2021) and southern India (this paper).	en	Williams, Z. H., Daniels, A. E. D., Gradstein, S. R. (2025): Cylindrocolea rhizantha (Cephaloziellaceae, Marchantiophyta) - a new record for Asia from the Western Ghats, India. Phytotaxa 721 (3): 295-300, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.721.3.9, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.721.3.9
B35587B1815B7F12FF640C7EFF653FE1.taxon	materials_examined	Specimen examined: India, Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, Dindigul District, Sirumalai Hills, 10 o 11 ’ 39.12 ” N to 77 o 59 ’ 48.12 ” E, c. 650 m, 08.01.2025, Z. H. Williams 952 p. p. (SCCN).	en	Williams, Z. H., Daniels, A. E. D., Gradstein, S. R. (2025): Cylindrocolea rhizantha (Cephaloziellaceae, Marchantiophyta) - a new record for Asia from the Western Ghats, India. Phytotaxa 721 (3): 295-300, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.721.3.9, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.721.3.9
B35587B1815B7F12FF640C7EFF653FE1.taxon	discussion	Discussion Cylindrocolea rhizantha was first described by Montagne (1842) under the name Jungermannia rhizantha from a collection by Wright in Cuba. Subsequent collections of the species were made in various parts of tropical and subtropical North and South America (Fig. 2), but the species is to our knowledge not known elsewhere (gbif. org / occurrence / map? taxon _ key = 4276712). The record from India appears to be the first report of the species from the Old World tropics. In Sirumalai Hills, Cylindrocolea rhizantha was found growing on shady, artificial road-side cuts in a degraded forest at c. 650 m a. s. l. This elevation falls well within the 200 – 1300 m elevational range of the species in the Neotropics (Gradstein 2021). The main diagnostic features of the species are: 1) leaves deeply bifid and obliquely inserted on the stem leaving a broad leaf-free strip on the dorsal stem surface; 2) leaf cells thin-walled and relatively large, 15 – 22 × 12 – 18 μm in midleaf; 3) underleaves present but very small, linear, 45 – 70 μm long; 4) margins of female bracts sub-entire; 5) perianth unistratose throughout, 4 - keeled; and 6) seta consisting of 4 large outer cell rows enclosing 4 much smaller inner cell rows. Cylindrocolea rhizantha is closely allied to C. reticulata Udar & Ad. Kumar but differs from the latter in being autoicous (C. reticulata is paroicous), in having entire or faintly crenulate female bracts (sharply toothed in C. reticulata), faintly papillose spores (reticulate in C. reticulata) and bispiral elaters (unispiral in C. reticulata). Differences with the other species of Cylindrocolea recorded from India are shown in the key. The seta made of 8 rows of cells (4 outer rows and 4 inner rows) is shared with all other Indian Cylindrocolea species except with C. devendrae Manju & P. P. Nishida (Manju et al. 2023: 244), which has a seta made of 21 rows of cells: 12 outer rows and 9 inner rows (Manju et al. 2023). Since the genus Cylindrocolea as a whole is characterized by a seta of 8 (4 + 4) rows of cells in cross section like Cephaloziella (Bakalin et al. 2024), and since seta structure is an important generic character within the family Cephaloziellaceae, C. devendrae may not belong to Cylindrocolea. Cylindrocolea abyssinica (Gola 1914: 68) Váňa (Váňa et al. 2013: 2) [= C. atroviridis (Sim 1926: 84) Váňa (Váňa et al. 1979: 7)] from tropical Africa is probably the species most closely similar to C. rhizantha. The only known difference between the two species is the structure of the perianth, which is unistratose from the base to the apex in C. rhizantha whereas it is unistratose in the upper half and bistratose in the lower half in C. abyssinica (Wigginton 2004). Biogeography. Disjunct occurrences of bryophyte species have been reported quite a number of times for India. Asthana & Srivastava (2021) reported Riccia boliviensis Jovet-Ast (1991: 242) (Ricciaceae) from the Eastern Ghats which was previously known only from the Neotropics whereas Athira & Daniels (2022) reported the Neotropical R. stenophylla Spruce (1890: 195) as new to India. Furthermore, Suresh and Cargill (2022) added the African Riccia okahandjana S. W. Arnell (1957: 268) to India from the plains of Deccan plateau. Aishwarya & Daniels (2024) reported the moss Trachypodopsis normandii (Broth. & Paris 1902: 68) M. Fleisch. (1906: 68) (Trachypodaceae), Daniels et al. (2024) the moss Pogonatum capense (Hampe 1844: 21) A. Jaeger (1875: 249) (Polytrichaceae), Kariyappa & Daniels (2010) the moss Trachyphyllum dusenii (Müller Hal. ex Brotherus 1897: 261) Brotherus (1907: 890) (Entodontaceae), and Daniels & Daniel (2009) the liverwort Cololejeunea distalopapillata (Jones 1957: 202) R. M. Schust. (1963: 173) (Lejeuneaceae) from the Southern Western Ghats, all four of them from Africa and previously believed to be African endemics. The record of Cylindrocolea rhizantha from the Western Ghats constitutes the third report of an American species occurring disjunctly in India. Before the age of molecular-phylogenetic research, such intercontinental disjunctions were often explained as ancient vicariance patterns that dated back to the early Mesozoic, before the break-up of Pangaea (e. g., Schuster 1983). Recent molecular studies, however, have shown that the ages of extant bryophyte species, and many of the genera, are too young for a vicariance scenario of evolution. Consequently, dispersal scenarios are currently proposed more frequently as explanations of intercontinental ranges (Heinrichs et al. 2009, Gradstein 2013, 2017). In the cases of disjunct occurrence of African species in India, wind or dispersal could be likely explanations. As to Neotropical species occurring disjunctly in India, however, natural dispersal is less likely and the possibility of insufficient collecting may be considered. The moss genus Campylopodiella Cardot (1908: 90), for example, was long known only from the Neotropics and the Himalayan region, but was recently collected in Africa (Townsend 2009). The possibility that the Neotropical – Indian disjunction was caused by human introduction should not be ruled out but seems less likely, unless the species occurs in ruderal habitats (Gradstein 2018). With regard to Cylindrocolea rhizantha, human introduction of the species in India could be a possibility since the species was found in an artificial, man-made habitat, viz. on road-side cuts.	en	Williams, Z. H., Daniels, A. E. D., Gradstein, S. R. (2025): Cylindrocolea rhizantha (Cephaloziellaceae, Marchantiophyta) - a new record for Asia from the Western Ghats, India. Phytotaxa 721 (3): 295-300, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.721.3.9, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.721.3.9
