Konstantinova, N.A. & A.A. Vilnet. 2024. Lophozia savicziae Schljakov (Lophoziaceae, Marchantiophyta) – one more allopolyploid species of liverworts

Arctoa (2025) 34: 44–51

doi: 10.15298/arctoa.34.04

Lophozia savicziae is a poorly known species described in 1973 from Murmansk Region of Russia and also recorded from North Asia, Greenland, and West of North America including Alaska. The isotype specimen of L. savicziae (Schljakov # 4-71 KPABG) was successfully sequenced. The obtained incongruence of topologies inferred from ITS1-2 nrDNA and trnL-F cpDNA data suggested a hybrid origin of L. savicziae from L. silvicoloides (paternal parent) and Lophozia sp. (maternal parent). Lophozia savicziae keeps both parental ITS1-2 copies that suggests a non-completeness of concerted evolution in this allopolyploid species. In the result of the integrative study all tested accessions of L. savicziae were found only in the Murmansk Region. The specimens identified as L. savicziae from Svalbard, several localities of the Murmansk Region, the Khanty-Mansi (Yugra) autonomous area, the Krasnoyarsk, the Kamchatka Territories, and the Chukotka Autonomous Area were referred to L. silvicoloides which apparently is not rare in tundra and high mountains. Three specimens were referred to Lophozia sp. Morphologically L. savicziae differs well from Lophozia silvicoloides in leaf and perianth shape. It is much more difficult to distinguish it from Lophozia sp., which we hesitate to describe due to the lack of appropriate data.