Gunung Senyum Recreational Forest harbours 59 species, two subspecies and five varieties of mosses in 32 genera and 16 families that had been identified from a total of 589 specimens collected from the area. These figures represent 11.8% out of the 558 taxa, 20.2% out of the 158 genera and 34.7% out of the 46 families of mosses reported for Peninsular Malaysia. The total also represents 14.9% of the 442 taxa, 24.0% of the 133 genera and 40.0% of the 40 families of mosses recorded in Pahang. The largest family of mosses found in this limestone forest is Calymperaceae followed by Fissidentaceae. There are two new records for Pahang, Calymperespallidum Mitt. and Taxitheliumbinsteadii Broth. & Dixon. The analysis of species similarities of mosses found in the study area with some other selected areas showed that Gunung Senyum Recreational Forest had a high percentage of species similarity with Perlis State Park at Wang Kelian, another limestone forest, at 38%. Corticol is the main habitat utilised by mosses in Gunung Senyum Recreational Forest with 47 taxa, followed by the lignicol and calcicol each with 35 and 26 taxa, respectively.
As opposed to angiosperms, moss species richness is similar among tropical regions of the world, in line with the hypothesis that tropical bryophytes are extremely good dispersers. Here, we reconstructed the phylogeny of the pantropical moss genus Pelekium to test the hypothesis that high migration rates erase any difference in species richness among tropical regions. In contrast with this hypothesis, several species considered to have a pantropical range were resolved as a complex of species with a strong geographic structure. Consequently, a significant phylogeographical signal was found in the data, evidencing that cladogenetic diversification within regions takes place at a faster rate than intercontinental migration. The shape of the Pelekium phylogeny, along with the selection of a constant-rate model of diversification among species in the genus, suggests, however, that the cladogenetic speciation patterns observed in Pelekium are not comparable to some of the spectacular examples of tropical radiations reported in angiosperms. Rather, the results presented here point to the constant accumulation of diversity through time in Pelekium. This, combined with evidence for long-distance dispersal limitations in the genus, suggests that the similar patterns of species richness among tropical areas are better explained in terms of comparable rates of diversification across tropical regions than by the homogenization of species richness by recurrent migrations.
An updated checklist of the liverworts and hornworts of Malaysia accepts 773 species and 31 infraspecific taxa of liverworts, in 120 genera and 40 families, and 7 species of hornworts (6 genera, 3 families). The largest family is Lejeuneaceae with 312 species in 30 genera, accounting for 40% of the total number of species. The largest genera are Cololejeunea, Bazzania and Frullania with 90, 61 and 55 species, respectively. The greatest number of species has been recorded from Sabah with 568 species, followed by Pahang and Sarawak with 338 and 265 species, respectively.
A checklist of the bryophyte flora of Mount Tebu Forest Reserve in Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia, is presented. A total of 189 taxa in 71 genera and 26 families were enumerated. This figure represents 63% of the 298 bryophyte species recorded so far for the State of Terengganu. Out of 189 taxa of bryophytes, 26 liverworts are new additions to the bryoflora of Terengganu. The most prominent liverwort family is represented by Lejeuneaceae, with 54 species from 17 genera, while the moss family is the Sematophyllaceae, with 34 taxa in 13 genera. The majority of the species are epiphytes, either corticolous or ramicolous. Almost half of the bryophyte species have wider elevational ranges and occur from the lowlands to the summit of Mount Tebu.