New national and regional bryophyte records, 84

This study represents the fi rst record of Notothylas javanica for the bryophyte fl ora of Gujarat, India. The species was found growing on the moist lateritic soil of a shaded forest fl oor dominated by dry deciduous vegetation. DNA barcoding of the specimen using the rbc L marker showed over 99% sequence similarity to N. javanica , supporting the morphological identi fi - cation. The thallus is yellowish-green to green, fl at, 0.8 – 1 cm broad, with a slightly dissected margin and involucres exhibiting modest longitudinal crests. The sporophytes are short and horizontal with faint longitudinal brownish streaks, measuring 1.2 – 1.7 mm in length. Pseudoelaters were not observed, consistent with the descriptions of Stieperaere and Matcham (2007). The dehiscence line is absent as reported by Ruklani et al. (2016). Notothylas is a unique genus of hornworts characterised by short, horizontally oriented sporophytes (Zhang et al. 2018). Earlier literature has reported N. javanica from Gauhati based on collections from 1953 (Mehra and Kachroo 1962). The present discovery from Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary extends the known geographical range of the species and emphasises the unexplored bryodiversity of western India.