Morphological Diversity of Complex Thalloid Liverwort Genera of Sri Lanka

N C S Ruklani,D G Long,S C K Rubasinghe

doi:10.4038/cjsbs.v44i2.7348

N C S Ruklani, D G Long + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.4038/cjsbs.v44i2.7348

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Abstract

As part of a study initiated to trace the evolutionary relationships and biogeographic affinities of Sri Lankan complex thalloid liverworts, we here present the morphological diversity of Sri Lankan complex thalloid liverworts. This serves as the first detailed taxonomic study of the group in Sri Lanka. Specimens were collected from different geographical regions covering almost all topographic and climatic zones of the country. This study revealed 9 genera of complex thalloid liverworts in Sri Lanka. Based on our collections and identifications we prepared a generic key to Sri Lankan complex thalloid liverworts. Taxonomic descriptions were prepared for all identified genera

Highlights

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, is an island in the Indian Ocean with a total land area of 65, 610 km2 (Myers, 1990; Meegaskumbura et al, 2002; Daskon and Binns, 2010)
Thirty percent of Sri Lankan flowering plants are endemic to the country and nearly 75% of these occur in the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, a world heritage site designated by UNESCO (Myers, 1990)
As a part of this pilot study we aim to present the morphological diversity of Sri Lankan complex thalloid liverworts based on new field collections

Summary

Introduction

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, is an island in the Indian Ocean with a total land area of 65, 610 km (Myers, 1990; Meegaskumbura et al, 2002; Daskon and Binns, 2010). There is a wide range of ecosystems due to this topographic and climatic heterogeneity of the country and the main types of ecosystems of Sri Lanka include forests, grasslands, aquatic, coastal and marine. These different ecosystems harbor a great variety of genera and species of plants and animals. Historical records on Sri Lankan bryophyte collections date back to 18th century (Rubasinghe and Long, 2014; Long and Rubasinghe, 2014; Ruklani and Rubasinghe, 2013)

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