New bryophyte records from Albania

Abstract

Institute of Botany andGarden, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, SerbiaAlbania is one of the SE European countries with theleast known bryoflora (e.g. So¨derstro¨met al., 1998;Sabovljevic´ et al., 2001). The first bryophyte studieswere carried out at the end of the nineteenth (Ho¨hnel,1893, 1894) and in the beginning of the twentiethcentury (Baumgartner, 1914, 1915; Szepesfalvy, 1926;Markgraf, 1927a, b, 1931). A few other investigationswere made during the second half of the last century(Ka´rpa´ti & Vajda, 1961; Petrov, 1960, 1962; Meyer G Bischler et al., 1980).Colacino & Sabovljevic´ (2006) summarized all re-cords in a preliminary checklist of Albanian bryo-phytes (three hornworts, 86 liverworts and 238mosses). In the checklist of hornworts and liverwortsfor SE Europe, Sabovljevic´ & Natcheva (2006)reported three and 88 taxa, respectively, and in themoss checklist for SE Europe, Sabovljevic´ et al. (2008)reported 219 moss species. Furthermore, in a con-tribution from Karavasta lagoon (District of Lushnja,Albania) recently published by Colacino & Marka(2009), 21 new species were recorded for Albania, andone liverwort and six moss species were reported byErzberger (2007) and Papp et al. (2009).Inthispaper,wereport19speciesasnewtoAlbania,three liverworts and 16 mosses. This brings the totalnumber of Albanian liverworts and mosses to 92 and262 taxa, respectively. The material was collected bythe senior author during July and September 2009 in a11615 km area of the Shishtaveci plateau at 1300–1700 m a.s.l., mountainous area of Kuke¨s (District ofKuke¨s), north-eastern Albania (Kabo, 1991). Theclimate is mountainous. The mean annual air tempera-ture is 7.1uC, for January it is 22.3uC, and for July16uC. The mean annual precipitation is 858 mm, mostof which falls as snow, with a mean maximal thicknessof 100–150 cm (Kabo, 1991).The material was identified by both authors atthe Belgrade University. Vouchers are deposited inTirana University, Faculty of Natural Sciences,Department of Biology (J. Marka collections — JMbelow) and BEOU.Fifteen liverworts and 40 mosses were previous-ly known from the Kuke¨s district (Colacino S Sabovljevic´ et al.,2008).Thenomenclature follows Hill et al. (2006) for mossesand Grolle & Long (2000) for liverworts. All speci-mens were collected by J. Marka and identified byJ. Marka & M. Sabovljevic´.Atrichum undulatum (Hedw.) P. Beauv.Shishtavec,soil,41u57938.40N,20u34949.00E,1377 m,25September2009(JMno. 726/2599,BEOU4979).Itisa circumpolar boreo-temperate species, known from allother SE European countries. Therefore, its presence inAlbania is not a surprise and it is probably morecommon than this single record suggests.Aulacomnium palustre (Hedw.) Schwa¨gr.Guri i Me¨ngjesit, Shishtavec, soil in meadow,41u56940.20N, 20u37906.60E, 1955 m, 15 July 2009(JM no. 57/1579, BEOU4980). This species is cir-cumpolar and wide-boreal, and has been recorded inall other SE European countries except EuropeanTurkey. In SE Europe, it occurs in high mountainbogs where the climate is boreal. It could therefore beexpected from more localities in the high mountainsof Albania.Barbilophozia hatcheri (A.Evans) LoeskeGuri i Me¨ngjesit, Shishtavec, rock crevices,41u56940.20N, 20u37906.60E, 1955 m, 15 July 2009(JM no. 32/1579, BEOU4981a). This is a boreo-montane species, reported from all other SEEuropean countries except Slovenia and EuropeanTurkey.Bryum rubens Mitt.GuriiMe¨ngjesit, Shishtavec, soil in meadow,41u56940.20N, 20u37906.60E, 1955 m, 15 July 2009 (JMno. 46/1579, BEOU4984). This European temperatespecies has been recorded from all other SE Europeancountries except Macedonia.