Pisarenko, O.Yu., O.I. Kuznetsova, E.A. Ignatova & M.S. Ignatov. 2022. A further range extension of the genus Arvernella (Bryophyta)

Arctoa (2022) 31: 1–6

doi: 10.15298/arctoa.31.01

A molecular phylogenetic analysis of tiny Amblystegiaceae plants from mountains of southern Siberia revealed an undescribed species of Arvernella. This genus was recently described from France and subsequently found in Sakhalin in the Russian Far East. Siberian plants represent the third species of the genus. Morphologically they are somewhat more similar to European ones, whereas the latter differ more strongly from both Asiatic species genetically. Arvernella is one of the smallest moss species in Russia with leaves 0.17–0.20 mm long and 0.06–0.07 mm wide only. It is currently known from four localities, the most distant being 530 km apart.