EXOSTOMIAL ORNAMENTATION IN THE BRYALES

Abstract

  An SEM study of ornamentation on the dorsal surfaces of exostome teeth in the diplolepideous order, Bryales, includes forty-five species in thirty-five genera. A core of families that are also similar gametophytically share a common ornamentation pattern. The base of the teeth have a reticulate ornamentation in which low or high, branched or simple papillae frequently occur on the reticulum. The upper parts of the teeth are variously ornamented but are not reticulate. Although this pattern of dorsal exostomial ornamentation is by far the most common in the Bryales, others, such as smooth, striate, or papillose occur occasionally in several families.