Biology:Aneura mirabilis
| Aneura mirabilis | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Marchantiophyta |
| Class: | Jungermanniopsida |
| Order: | Metzgeriales |
| Family: | Aneuraceae |
| Genus: | Aneura |
| Species: | A. mirabilis
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| Binomial name | |
| Aneura mirabilis (Malmb.) Wickett et Goffinet[1]
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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Aneura mirabilis is a parasitic species of liverworts in the family Aneuraceae.[2] It was first described in 1933, as Cryptothallus mirabilis.[3] Plants of this species are white as a result of lacking chlorophyll, and their plastids do not differentiate into chloroplasts.[4]
Description
Aneura mirabilis is a subterranean myco-heterotroph that obtains its nutrients from the abundant fungi growing among its tissues rather than from photosynthesis. The infecting fungus is a basidiomycete, a species of Tulasnella, which is also the case in fungi associated with other species of Aneura,[5] as well as the related genus Riccardia. However, this is not the case for other members of the Metzgeriales that have been studied.[3] Plants are white, lacking chlorophyll, and their plastids do not differentiate into chloroplasts.[4] They are small, seldom growing more than 3 cm (1.2 in) long.[6]
The species is dioicous, with individual plants producing either antheridia or archegonia, but never both. The female plants (with archegonia) are typically ten times the size of the male plants.[3] The development of reproductive structures is not controlled by photoperiod, but does require a temperature of at least 21 °C (70 °F) following a period of sufficiently low temperature.[7]
Taxonomy
Aneura mirabilis was first reported by M. Denis in 1919, who considered it simply as a form of A. pinguis lacking chlorophyll.[5] In 1933, S. Malmborg placed it in a separate genus, Cryptothallus. Apart from lacking chlorophyll, it is very similar to species in the genus Aneura, and the validity of recognizing Cryptothallus as a separate genus was questioned by Karen Renzaglia in 1982, who suggested it may be considered "merely as an achlorophyllous species of Aneura."[8] A molecular phylogenetic study in 2008 placed the species firmly within Aneura, and it was transferred to that genus.[5] This decision was confirmed by a larger molecular phylogenetic study in 2010.[9]
It is suggested that the ancestor of Aneura mirabilis, like the related A. pinguis, had a mutualistic mycorrhizal association with Tulasnella, which was also able to form mycorrhizal connections with neighbouring trees. This evolved into a relationship where A. mirabilis gave up photosynthesis and obtained all its nutrients from the fungus, which in turn obtained them from the associated trees. Other evolutionary lineages of myco-heterotrophic plants have been shown to have evolved from photosynthetic, mycorrhizal ancestors.[5]
Initially, A. mirabilis was the only species of bryophyte known with the same combination of characteristics,[10] but in 1977 and 1979, a second species was collected in Costa Rica, and described in 1996 as Cryptothallus hirsutus (now Aneura crumii[1]).[11] (As of 2008), it had not been observed again.[5]
Distribution and habitat
Plants have been found in locations across northern Europe, and once in Greenland.[3] They grow in bogs and are typically found underneath peat moss or other dense moss growth near birch trees.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Söderström, Lars; Hagborg, Anders; von Konrat, Matt; Bartholomew-Began, Sharon; Bell, David; Briscoe, Laura; Brown, Elizabeth; Cargill, D. Christine et al. (2016). "World checklist of hornworts and liverworts". PhytoKeys (59): 1–828. doi:10.3897/phytokeys.59.6261. ISSN 1314-2003. PMID 26929706.
- ↑ Wickett, N. J.; Zhang, Y.; Hansen, S. K.; Roper, J. M.; Kuehl, J. V.; Plock, S. A.; Wolf, P. G.; Depamphilis, C. W. et al. (2008). "Functional gene losses occur with minimal size reduction in the plastid genome of the parasitic liverwort Aneura mirabilis". Molecular Biology and Evolution 25 (2): 393–401. doi:10.1093/molbev/msm267. PMID 18056074.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Schuster, Rudolf M. (1992). The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America. V. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History. pp. 574–579. ISBN 0-914868-20-9.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sigee, D. C. (1969). "The fine structure of plastids in the apical region of the gametophyte of Cryptothallus mirabilis Malmb.". Transactions of the British Bryological Society 5 (4): 820–822. doi:10.1179/006813869804146745.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Wickett, N. J.; Goffinet, B. (2008). "Origin and relationships of the myco-heterotrophic liverwort Cryptothallus mirabilis Malmb. (Metzgeriales, Marchantiophyta)". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 156 (1): 1–12. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2007.00743.x.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Hill, David Jackson (1969). "The absence of chlorophyll in the spores of Cryptothallus mirabilis Malmb.". Transactions of the British Bryological Society 5 (4): 818–819. doi:10.1179/006813869804146781.
- ↑ Chopra, R. N.; Kumra, P. K. (1988). Biology of Bryophytes. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 93–96. ISBN 0-470-21359-0.
- ↑ Renzaglia, Karen S. (1982). A comparative developmental investigation of the gametophyte generation in the Metzgeriales (Hepatophyta). Bryophytorum Bibliotheca. 24. Vaduz: J. Cramer.
- ↑ Preussing, M.; Olsson, S.; Schäfer-Verwimp, A.; Wickett, N.J.; Wicke, S.; Quandt, D.; Nebel, M. (2010). "New insights in the evolution of the liverwort family Aneuraceae (Metzgeriales, Marchantiophyta), with emphasis on the genus Lobatiriccardia". Taxon 59 (5): 1424–1440. doi:10.1002/tax.595009. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225279990. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
- ↑ Schofield, W. B. (1985). Introduction to Bryology. New York: Macmillan. pp. 184, 192. ISBN 0-02-949660-8.
- ↑ Crum, Howard; Bruce, James (1996). "A new species of Cryptothallus from Costa Rica". The Bryologist 99 (4): 433–438. doi:10.2307/3244107.
External links
- Huldremossa Aneura mirabilis (Cryptothallus mirabilis), a short article (in Swedish) with color photographs
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