Hookeria lucens (Hedw.) Sm.

Alegro, Antun, Dragićević, Snežana, Šegota, Vedran & Ćetković, Ilinka, 2019, Stepping beyond the 700 milestone: four new moss species in the bryophyte flora of Montenegro, Cryptogamie, Bryologie 20 (9), pp. 97-103 : 98-99

Hookeria lucens (Hedw.) Sm.

SPECIMEN EXAMINED. — Montenegro. Western slopes of Hajla Mt, road connecting town of Rožaje and village of Bandžov, 42°47’17”N, 20°07’55”E, 1417 m a.s.l., 7.IX.2017, leg. V. Šegota, A. Alegro & I. Ćetković s.n., det. A. Alegro & V. Šegota, ZA47630.

REMARKS

The species was found in the edge zone of a narrow stream, near the forest road on the margin of elder stands ( Alnus incana (L.) Moench) within the spruce ( Picea abies ) dominated forest vegetation belt. Similarly, in Europe, it grows on moist clayey soils and earthy banks along forest streams and ditches ( Dierssen 2001). This locality is situated outside the Mediterranean part of Montenegro. Only several bright green, glossy succulent patches were found on the moist soil, along with peat mosses Sphagnum girgensohnii Russow. and S. palustre L. We consider this small population highly endangered, due to road maintenance and a high probability of natural terrain erosion, caused by heavy rains or snow melting. Hookeria lucens is a Suboceanic Temperate element ( Hill & Preston 1998; Smith 2004) occurring in Europe, W North America, SW Asia, Caucasus, N Turkey and N Africa ( Hill & Preston 1998; Krisai & Strobl 2005).

The species is widespread across the European continent ( Hodgetts 2015), however in SE Europe it becomes less abundant, thus it is known only from Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Głowacki 1906), Croatia ( Pavletić 1955; Papp et al. 2013b), Romania ( Stefănuţ & Goia 2012), Serbia ( Papp & Erzberger 2005) and Slovenia (Martinčič 2003). Rather recently the species has been found also in Hungary ( Ellis et al. 2011). The species is known in other Mediterranean areas such as the Iberian and Apennine peninsulas, France, Tunisia, Turkey and islands of Azores, Corsica and Madeira ( Ros et al. 2013). In the context of SE Europe and Mediterranean, the species is recognized as vulnerable only in Romania ( Stefănuţ & Goia 2012).