Dicranella heteromalla (Dicranellaceae), a new record from the Hyrcanian forests (Northern Iran) based on morphological and molecular evidence

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Forest Sciences and Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, 14114-154, Iran

10.22108/tbj.2026.149024.1339

Abstract

The genus Dicranella comprises cosmopolitan moss species, with two taxa previously recorded from Iran. During bryophyte surveys in the Hyrcanian forests of northern Iran, a moss specimen morphologically assignable to Dicranella was collected from a rocky substrate in a Taxus baccata forest in Mazandaran Province. To determine its taxonomic identity, detailed morphological observations and molecular phylogenetic analyses were conducted using nrDNA ITS and plastid trnL-F sequence data. Morphologically, the specimen was characterized by a silky habit, falcate-secund leaves, denticulate leaf apices, a costa occupying one-third or more of the leaf base, and a yellowish seta with a non-strumose capsule, all consistent with Dicranella heteromalla. The ITS sequence of the Iranian material was identical to published accessions from Germany and the United Kingdom, and phylogenetic analyses of trnL-F sequences placed the specimen within the D. heteromalla clade, together with European and South American accessions. Both Bayesian inference and maximum-likelihood analyses supported its placement within Dicranella s. str. Based on combined morphological and molecular evidence, D. heteromalla is recorded here for the first time from Iran, extending the known distribution of the species in SW Asia and contributing to knowledge of bryophyte diversity in the Hyrcanian forests.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Taxonomy and Biosystematics

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 16 September 2026

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