DOI: 10.5061/dryad.b2rbnzsv0
title: Data from: An unusual new rheophytic species of the liverwort genus <em>Cephaloziella</em> from Panama

description: During bryophyte surveys in the Antón River watershed, Coclé Province,
 Panama, we discovered a minute rheophytic liverwort representing an
 undescribed species of Cephaloziellaceae. Phylogenetic analyses based on
 nuclear ITS1–2 and plastid rbcL DNA markers placed the new species within
 Cephaloziella, where it resolved in a clade with C. microphylla, C.
 kiaeri, and C. recurvifolia in the ITS tree, and with C. microphylla alone
 in the rbcL tree. We describe the species as Cephaloziella minutiloba A.M.
 Sierra, Gradst. & Gudiño sp. nov. The new species is
 morphologically distinct by its minute size, flagelliform shoots,
 scattered violet rhizoids, succubous and highly unequally conduplicate
 leaves with a prominent ventral lobe and a strongly reduced dorsal lobe
 bent over the ventral lobe, and crenate-dentate leaf margins. The gynoecia
 on short ventral branches are made up of 2–3 series of highly connate,
 crenate bracts and a 5-plicate perianth with a fringed mouth. This new
 species expands our understanding of morphological diversity and
 rheophytic adaptation within Cephaloziella. The morphological affinities
 of the species are discussed, and the importance of integrative taxonomic
 approaches in liverwort systematics is emphasized.
description: # Data from: An unusual new rheophytic species of the liverwort genus
 *Cephaloziella* from Panama Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.b2rbnzsv0](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b2rbnzsv0)
 **Citation** Adriel M. Sierra, S. Robbert Gradstein, and José Gudiño L
 "An Unusual New Rheophytic Species of the Liverwort Genus
 *Cephaloziella* from Panama," Systematic Botany 50(3), 185-194, (18
 December 2025). https://doi.org/10.1600/036364425X17637402353547 ##
 Description of the data and file structure Associated dataset for: An
 unusual new rheophytic species of the liverwort genus Cephaloziella from
 Panama Adriel M. Sierra^1^, S. Robbert Gradstein^2^ & José Gudiño
 L.^3^ ^1^ Département de Biologie, Université Laval, Québec, (QC), G1V
 0A6, Canada. ^2^ Meise Botanic Garden, 1860 Meise, Belgium ^3^ Smithsonian
 Tropical Research Institute, Summit Herbarium (SCZ), PO Box 0843-03092,
 Ancón, Panama. ### Files and variables #### File:
 Cephaloziellaceae_ITS_alignment_may25.nex **Description:** Alignment of 58
 sequences of the nuclear gene *ITS* comprises 1251 base pairs. Nuclear
 ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (*ITS1–2*) region nrITS1–5.8S–ITS2,
 sequenced with the primers Bryo18SF and Bryo26SR. #### File:
 Cephaloziellaceae_rbcL_alignment_may25.nex **Description:** Alignment of
 48 sequences of the chloroplast region *rbcL* comprises 1514 base pairs.
 The *rbcL* sequence where generated with the primers rbcL-210-F and
 rbcL-1200-R. #### File: Cephaloziellaceae_ITS_mod.tree
 **Description:** *ITS1–2* maximum likelihood consensus tree. #### File:
 Cephaloziellaceae_rbcL_mod.tree **Description:** *rbcL* maximum likelihood
 consensus tree. ## Code/software Sequences were edited and aligned with
 Geneious Prime version 2024.0.4
 ([https://www.geneious.com](https://www.geneious.com)). Alignments were
 performed automatically using the default settings (65 % similarity, gap
 open penalty = 12, gap extension penalty = 3, refinement iterations = 2)
 and were later checked manually. **Phylogenetic analyses**—Gene trees were
 inferred in IQ-tree using 1000 ultrafast bootstrap replicates, a maximum
 likelihood inference method with specific evolutionary models for each
 gene (*ITS*: GTR+F+G4; and *rbcL*: TIM+F+G4) using ModelFinder
 (Kalyaanamoorthy *et al.* 2017; Minh e*t al.* 2013). The phylogenetic tree
 with ML result was manipulated and visualized using the packages *ape* and
 *phylotools* (Zhang 2017; Paradis and Schliep 2019) in the R software (R
 Core team 2024). Bootstrap values ≥ 70 were regarded as moderate and ≥ 85
 as good support for the new species (Erixon *et al.* 2003). Bayesian
 inference was performed on the software MrBayes v.3.2.6 (Ronquist and
 Huelsenbeck 2003, Ronquist *et al.* 2012). Two parallel Markov Chain Monte
 Carlo (MCMC) runs, adding up to ten million generations, were conducted,
 with each run containing four chains with default priors on most
 parameters. Trees and estimated parameter values were sampled every 1,000
 generations, thus obtaining a total of 10,000 samples from which the first
 1,000 (10%) were discarded as burn-in. Convergence of runs was verified
 using Tracer 1.6 (Rambaut *et al.* 2014). A majority-rule consensus tree
 was computed to calculate the Bayesian posterior probability (BPP), in
 which values of BPP ≥ 0.95 were considered significant.