Ignatova, E.A., L.E. Kurbatova, O.I. Kuznetsova, O.V. Ivanov, J.R. Shevock, B. Carter & M.S. Ignatov. The genus Scouleria (Bryophyta) in Russia revisited

Arctoa (2015) 24: 47-66

doi: 10.15298/arctoa.24.09

Circumscription of Scouleria species in Russia is revised basing on the molecular phylogenetic analysis and morphological study. Scouleria rschewinii is found to have mainly western distribution in the lower course of Yenissey River in Krasnoyarsk Territory, Vilyui River and upper course of Lena River in Yakutia, and Vitim River in Irkutsk Province, but with few disjunct localities in Kolyma and Omoloj Rivers in NE Yakutia and Anadyr River in Chukotka. Scouleria pulcherrima is more frequent and occurs from Taimyr to Chukotka and from Baikal Lake area to the Amur River region. The traditionally used characters for differentiation of taxa are overlapping, while DNA sequence data (nuclear ITS and chloroplastic rpl32-trnL) and additional morphological characters (cell wall shining in polarized light, degree of peristome reduction, pattern of columella adjoing to operculum) appear to be fairly stable.