Scapania apiculata
Scapania apiculata Spruce
Scapaniaceae
Conservation status. Critically Endangered [CR B2ab(iii)].
Morphology and biology. Perennial leafy liverwort forming small yellowish green or brownish patches. Stems c. 0.5 cm long, with leaves c. 1–2 mm wide. Leaves bilobed with lobes folded together face to face. Dorsal (upper) lobe smaller than the ventral (lower) one. Lobe margins entire or rarely with few teeth. Perianths ovoid, compressed, slightly plicate. Vegetative propagation is by means of 1-celled reddish brown gemmae forming on the leaf top or on thread-like shoots with minute leaves. Unisexual.
Habitats and populations. Plants grow on decaying wood in shaded habitats in spruce or mixed spruce-beech forests. It forms individual patches or grows mixed with other liverworts (Lophozia spp., Anastrophyllum spp., Nowellia curvifolia). The species is characterized by limited distribution, low population density, and low growth rate.
Distribution in Bulgaria. Rhodopi Mts (Western – south of Batak reservoir, in spruce-beech forest).
General distribution. Balkan Peninsula (Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania) and other parts of Europe (Scandinavia, Estonia, Lithuania, UK, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, Sicily), N Caucasus, Far East, Siberia, China, E Asia, North America. Subarctic-subalpine species.
Threats. Forest clearance, changes in temperature and illumination, air pollution. Removal of decaying stems and branches cause a loss of bryophytes substrate.
Conservation measures taken. The locality is within a site of the European ecological network Natura 2000 in Bulgaria.
Conservation measures needed. Studies on population dynamics, growth rates and habitats’ ecological conditions; legal protection of the species under the national Biological Diversity Act.
References. Petrov 1963.
Author: Anna Ganeva
