Encalypta buxbaumioidea Cao Tong, Gao Chien & Bai Xue-liang ex Cao Tong & Gao Chien 1990

The name of this species refers to the superficial similarity of the capsule to that of Buxbaumia minakatae Okam. Encalypta buxbaumioidea has spores with large rounded protuberances on the distal surface, a feature that unequivocally places it in the section Rhabdotheca. The hyaline hair-points of the leaves are suggestive of E. rhaptocarpa, but it is differentiated, at least from E. rhaptocarpa s.str., by the lack of a peristome and uniquely shaped capsules that are gradually contracted from a broad base to a small mouth.

Plants small, 6–7 mm high, green to yellowish green, in tufts. Stems mostly simple; central strand not well developed. Leaves slightly twisted when dry, erect-spreading when moist, gradually narrowed from a broadly oblong to oblong base to a lanceolate limb, with a long, hyaline hair-point; margins at upper part of leaves distinctly incurved; costa stout, excurrent; upper cells irregularly quadrate to short oblong, 10–18 µm x 10–13 µm, densely papillose, obscure; basal cells oblong, 39–52 µm x 16–18 µm, with yellowish, thickened transverse walls, marginal cells of 3–5 rows, linear, thin-walled, 39–78 µm x 6–8 µm. Autoicous. Perichaetial leaves similar to upper stem leaves. Setae short, ca. 2 mm long, erect, reddish brown; capsules erect or slightly inclined, brownish yellow, basal part broad, gradually contracted to very small mouth, narrowly pyriform, smooth; peristome absent; annuli undifferentiated; opercula with a long beak. Calyptrae pale golden, broadly cylindric, covering the whole capsules, smooth, basal margins irregular, with short rostrum, 0.2–0.3 length of the calyptra. Spores 31–34 µm in diameter, with radial plicae and centrally located low papillae on the proximal surface, with large warty papillae on the distal surface.

Distribution: endemic to China.

Habitat: details not known.