Breutelia rhythidioides Herz., Hedwigia 74: 108. 1934.

Protologue. Colombia. Columbia: páramo El Boqueron, 3500–3600 m ([Troll] 2152 und 2192).

Plants robust, in loose or dense, somewhat glossy, yellowish‑green to brownish yellow tufts, to 11 cm high. Stems red, hyalodermis and central strand present, moderately to densely tomentose below; rhizoids reddish brown, lightly papillose. Leaves 3–5 x 1.2–1.9 mm, closely spaced, secund to subfalcate, rugose, at times twisted when dry, erect-spreading to secund when wet, curved-falcate, ovate to broadly lanceolate, strongly plicate at base, not decurrent; apices slenderly acuminate; margins recurved below, plane above midleaf, serrulate; costae percurrent to shortly excurrent; leaf cells porose or straight-walled,  papillose at lower ends above, from either end below, upper cells linear-elongate, thick‑walled, 37.5–75 x 3.7–5 μm, basal cells linear-elongate, 50–125 x 5–7.5 μm, thick-walled, alar region with 4-9 rows of enlarged, firm-walled or inflated cells at basal angles, often extending up the basal margins, intra-alar cells reddish orange, porose, length to width ratio often more than 2:1. Dioicous. Sporophytes not seen. “Setae 10–12 mm long, arcuate, capsules subglobose to ovoid, 4 mm long x 3 mm wide, irregularly rugulose when dry, peristome inserted below the mouth, exostome equaling the endostome or nearly so, pale yellow, smooth below, papillose above. Spores subreniform, areolate-tuberculate, 33–35 μm long x 25–26 μm wide” (Griffin 1984a).