Guide to Liverworts of Oregon: Calypogeia shevockii Bakalin & A.V. Troitsky
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Calypogeia 1b oil bodies colorless > Calypogeia 2a underleaves bifid > Calypogeia 3b less than 2.5 mm wide > Calypogeia 4a cells mostly 50 μm or larger > Calypogeia fissa
Synonym: Calypogeia fissa (L.) Raddi, in part.
Special status: ORBIC List 4.
Recognition: Most likely to be confused with C. muelleriana. The oil body characters are quite definitive. This species (in our area) has clear, colorless oil bodies composed of a single or only few, globular segments. Calypogeia muelleriana has grayish oil bodies of numerous small globules, the globules notably variable in size (heterogeneous). I have described them as looking like chewed pieces of chewing gum. Calypogeia sphagnicola is smaller but size of mid leaf cells approaches C. fissa and its oil bodies are segmented like C. fissa. It is important to measure cells from mature leaves to properly characterize cell size in order to distinguish C. shevockii from C. sphagnicola.
Distribution: Widespread in western coastal regions from California to Alaska.
Comments: The plants from the Pacific Northwest deserve subspecific status. They are more like the European subsp. fissa than the subsp. neogaea described by Schuster from the eastern half of the continent. In addition to oil body differences, cell wall thickenings in the capsules are distinctive.
The Pacific Northwest form recently has been named a distinct species, Calypogeia shevockii Bakalin & A.V. Troitsky (Bakalin, et al. 2022). I have borrowed the type specimen and made a series of photomicrographs to compare with other regional collections. The specimens, collected in 2017, were stained with methylene blue to visualize the rehydrated specimens. It is unfortunate that Bakalin did not obtain fresh, fertile material to designate as a holotype so that capsule and oil body data were available. He cited no paratypes that might have supplied such information.
Calypogeia shevockii is comparable to the eastern subspecies, C. fissa subsp. neogaea R.M. Schuster. It is now widely recognized at the species level, including in the Synopsis of North American Liverworts by Stotler and Crandall-Stotler (2017.) My preference would be to treat the cryptic species at subspecies rank as it would indicate their close relationship, but I believe making a combination for Calypogeia shevockii at subspecies rank is not necessary at this time.
- Dorsal aspect. Ogilby Canyon vicinity, El Dorado County, California. (Shevock 50287; Type Specimen, CAS).
- Dorsal aspect. Ogilby Canyon vicinity, El Dorado County, California. (Shevock 50287; Type Specimen, CAS).
- Dorsal aspect. Ogilby Canyon vicinity, El Dorado County, California. (Shevock 50287; Type Specimen, CAS).
- Dorsal aspect. Ogilby Canyon vicinity, El Dorado County, California. (Shevock 50287; Type Specimen, CAS).
- Dorsal aspect. Ogilby Canyon vicinity, El Dorado County, California. (Shevock 50287; Type Specimen, CAS).
- Ventral aspect. Ogilby Canyon vicinity, El Dorado County, California. (Shevock 50287; Type Specimen, CAS).
- Ventral aspect. Ogilby Canyon vicinity, El Dorado County, California. (Shevock 50287; Type Specimen, CAS).
- Ventral aspect. Ogilby Canyon vicinity, El Dorado County, California. (Shevock 50287; Type Specimen, CAS).
- Ventral aspect. Ogilby Canyon vicinity, El Dorado County, California. (Shevock 50287; Type Specimen, CAS).
Douglas Co., Oregon. DHW 8814.
Three Sisters Wilderness, Lane Co., Oregon. DHW m1772a
S. Santiam R., Linn Co., Oregon. DHW m1277a
Three Sisters Wilderness, Lane Co., Oregon. DHW m1772a
Underleaves. 44 mi NNW of Fairbanks, Alaska, DHW m2583a.
Oil bodies. 44 mi NNW of Fairbanks, Alaska, DHW m2583a.
Oil bodies. S. Santiam R., Linn Co., Oregon. DHW m1277a
Three Sisters Wilderness, Lane Co., Oregon. DHW m1772a.
Three Sisters Wilderness, Lane Co., Oregon. DHW m1772a.
Epidermal cells of capsule wall, stacked exterior view. Nooksack River Valley, Whatcom County, Washington. DHW 4762.
Secondary cells of capsule wall, stacked interior view. Nooksack River Valley, Whatcom County, Washington. DHW 4762.