During my recent investigation in a montane cloud Rhododendron forest (1800m asl), I found this sponge like moss. Someone told me it's a species of carnivous moss. Yet I cannot find information about the plant. Could anyone provide scientific name to me? Thanks in advance.
Rebecca
There are no carnivorous moss plants. It is said that Sphagnum moss is a good substratum to grow carnivorous plants.
Ma wenzhang in Kunming institute of botany of CAS may konw. He is good at bryophyte taxonomy and his email is [email protected]. You can contact with him.
Hi Rebecca,
It certainly looks like a Pleurozia species and the water sacs of this species reportedly are home to a great variety of microfauna. However, this does not mean that the plant is carnivorous. Similarly, we would not call (most) phytotelm bromeliads carnivorous just because their tanks support abundant life. For more info see http://virtuelle.gefil.de/s-hess/forsch.html#2.1
Cheers, Jan
I don't know which species this is - the only Pleurozia I am familiar with is P. purpurea, which is common here in Scotland. However, there is some evidence that this species is zoophagous - see this paper from 2005 for details http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1639/6. The water sacs are very similar in structure to those of the vascular plant Utricularia, which is a well-known genus of carnivorous plants. So whilst I can't confirm that the species of liverwort you have found is zoophagous, it is possible, since evidence for this exists in another member of the genus.
Thanks for all the helping answers! I am sorry for a late reply. This is the first time I saw this kind of liverworts in our subtropical island. It seems we know very little about the forests on this island. :)
Dear Rebecca,
I am not sure that it is actually a moss (Bryophytes contain three clades: mosses, hepatics and anthocerotae). Your specimen reminds me of Sphaerocarpus sp. which is a thallose liverwort (Hepatica: Marhcantiales/Sphaerocarpaceae)
THe only carnivorous bryophyte I now about is Colura which is a genus of folious liverworts (Hepatica: Lejeuneaceae). There is a clear evidence that Colura is carnivorous, but it ressembles rather like one of the very small strains of liverwort you can see in the left half of Your photo; the sponge like structure is probably an early stage of fructifying Sphaerocarpus,
all the best.
Arne
Have a look at this useful link.
http://bio.mq.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Plant-of-the-week-Pleurozia-a-carnivorous-liverwort.pdf
Dear Colleagues!
We have published a work that puts an end to the issue of possible carnivory of Pleurozia. Spoiler - she's not there.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03736687.2024.2353410
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