The bryophytes of the Balearic Islands: an annotated checklist

Abstract

As a result of the revision of herbarium specimens and literature records, an annotated checklist of bryophytes of the Balearic Islands is presented. The distribution by islands is provided for each of the 328 bryophytes taxa (one hornwort, 67 liverworts and 260 mosses) currently accepted in the archipelago. Thirty-six taxa are to be excluded or doubtful. The highest number of species is found in Mallorca (298 taxa), followed by Menorca (159 taxa), Eivissa (92 taxa), Formentera (52 taxa), Cabrera (33 taxa) and Dragonera (32 taxa). The species richness of Mallorca is due to the presence of mountains which in the Serra de Tramuntana, rise to 1445 m. That of Menorca is due to acidic substrate, which are rare in the other islands.