A Checklist of Mosses of Peninsular Malaya and Singapore

Abstract

A total of475 taxa of mosses in 134 genera and 35 families is recorded for Peninsular Malaya and Singapore. One genus, Sclerohypnum, and 20 species are considered endemic to the study area. In the checklist, each entry contains information on the state distribution and the source publications. Fissidens laxus Sull. & Lesq. var. javensis (Fl.) Tan & Mohamed, Mitthyridium repens (Harv.) Robins. var. minor (Fl.) Tan & Mohamed, and Oedicladium pseudo-rufescens (Hampe) Tan & Mohamed are new combinations, and Ochrobryum herzogianum Tan & Mohamed and Calymperes dixoconstrictum Tan & Mohamed are new names. Malaysia is politically composed of two separate regions: Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia was formerly known as Malaya while East Malaysia comprises Sabah and Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Touw (1978) has already published the mosses reported from Borneo and therefore the present checklist is restricted to the mosses reported from Peninsular Malaysia and Sin- gapore. Peninsular Malaysia has an area of 131,588 km2 while Singapore has an area of only 580 km2. Physiography. -Peninsular Malaysia is a long narrow strip of mountainous land extending south- ward from Burma and Thailand. At its widest the peninsula is only 320 km. About half of the pen- insula is underlain by granite and other igneous rocks. One third is covered by stratified rocks, and the remainder is of alluvial nature. More than half of the land area is over 150 m above sea level. A