Mosses of southwest Ethiopian montane forests – notes on their occurrence pattern and many new country records

Abstract

One hundred and thirty-nine taxa of mosses are reported from the montane forest zone of southwest Ethiopia. Of these, 53 taxa are new country records and Meteoriopsis reclinata (Müll.Hal.) M.Fleisch. ex Broth. is, in addition, new to Africa. Most of the new records are of species also found in Uganda, Kenya or Tanzania, but there are some surprises, such as Fabronia perciliata Müll.Hal. with the closest location in South Africa and Namibia, Entodontella cameruniae Broth. previously known only from West Africa and Bryomaltaea obtusifolia (Hook.) Goffinet, otherwise reported only from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We list all taxa and give a short account of their frequency and in which habitat and on which substrate they grow. That such a large proportion of the species are new to the country suggests that Ethiopia is bryologically very under-explored, and that further exploration will reveal many additional species. In particular, the remnant forests of southwest Ethiopia are likely to be of great importance as bryophyte hotspots.

Keywords:

• Afromontane forest
• Bryophyte
• Ethiopia
• Substrate

Acknowledgements

We extend our grateful thanks to the many specialists who identified or confirmed specimens from this collection, namely: Ida Bruggeman-Nannenga (Fissidens), William R. Buck (Entodon), Johannes Enroth (Neckeraceae), Jan-Peter Frahm (Campylopus), Ricardo Garilleti (Orthotrichaceae), Bernard Goffinet (Physcomitrella, Tayloria, Funaria, Entosthodon), Michael Ignatov (some Brachyteciaceae), Philip Sollman (Pottiaceae), John Spence (Bryaceae). Thanks also to Martin Wigginton and Tamás Pócs for valuable comments that improved the paper. Research permits were obtained from the agriculture office of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State in Awasa. This work was supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) (to KH) under Grant SWE-2005-293.

Taxonomic Additions and Changes: Nil.

ORCID

Kristoffer Hylander http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1215-2648

Sileshi Nemomissa http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3665-0713

Lars Hedenäs http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1763-1696