Pseudoleskeella clade

The separate position of the Pseudoleskeella clade (L3) was confirmed by the present analysis, with support in Nona (99%) and MB (1(X)%) analyses, and it also had one characteristic insertion in ITSl (Figure 9.6). Species of this genus differ from most other representatives of the Leskeaceae in having small plants with short leaves, short lamina cells and no paraphyllia. In Nona and Bayesian analyses Rhytidium was found sister to Pseudoleskeellaceae. This observation is difficult to comment on on the one hand Rhytidium is morphologically very different from Pseudoleskeella, on the other, most... 

Region S (position 289) has a shared substitution (G versus T) in four species, three members of the 07 clade (Heterocladium dimorphum, H. procurrens and Pseudoleskeella serpentinensis) and Leptodictyum riparium (09). 

Finally, Pseudoleskeella serpentinensis was found within this clade in all analyses. This species differs from other Pseudoleskeella species in being bigger and having thick-walled cells arranged in more or less firm oblique rows, reminiscent of Neckeraceae. The leaf margin of P. serpentinensis is also remotely but quite prominently serrate, a character never found in other species of Pseudoleskeella, but characteristic of both Neckeraceae and Heterocladium. Thus, the placement of P. serpentinensis in Heterocladium or near it seems more likely than in Pseudoleskeella. 

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