Pleurozia

Pleurozia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Marchantiophyta
Class: Jungermanniopsida
Order: Jungermanniales
Family: Pleuroziaceae
(Schiffn.) Müll. [1]
Genus: Pleurozia
Dumort. [2]
Species

Pleurozia acinosa
Pleurozia articulata
Pleurozia caledonica
Pleurozia conchifolia
Pleurozia curiosa
Pleurozia gigantea
Pleurozia heterophylla
Pleurozia johannis-winkleri
Pleurozia paradoxa
Pleurozia purpurea
Pleurozia subinflata
Synonyms

Eopleurozia Schust.
Physiotium Nees

Pleurozia is the only genus of liverworts in the family Pleuroziaceae, which is classified within the order Jungermanniales.[3] The genus includes eleven species,[4] and as a whole is both physically distinctive and widely distributed.[5] The lower leaf lobes of Pleurozia species are fused, forming a closed water sac covered by a movable lid similar in structure to those of the angiosperm genus Utricularia. These sacs were assumed to play a role in water storage, but a 2005 study on Pleurozia purpurea found that the sacs attract and trap ciliates, much in the same way as Utricularia. Observations of plants in situ also revealed a large number of trapped prey within the sacs, suggesting that the species in this genus obtain some benefit from a carnivorous habit. After Colura, this was the second report of zoophagy among the liverworts.[6]

References

  1. ^ Müller, K. (1909). Die Lebermoose Deutschlands, Oesterreichs und der Schweiz, mit Berücksichtigung der übrigen Länder Europas. Rabenhorst's Kryptogamen-Flora. Leipzig. 
  2. ^ Dumortier, B. C. (1835). Recueil d'observations sur les Jungermanniacées. fasc. 1. Tournay. pp. 1–27. 
  3. ^ Schuster, Rudolf M. (1966). The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America. I. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 381–384. 
  4. ^ Thiers, Barbara M. (1993). "A Monograph of Pleurozia (Hepaticae; Pleuroziaceae)". The Bryologist 96 (4): 517–554. 
  5. ^ Jones, E. W. (2004). Liverwort and Hornwort Flora of West Africa. Scripta Botanica Belgica. 30. Meise: National Botanic Garden (Belgium). pp. 197–198. ISBN 90-72619-61-7. 
  6. ^ Hess, Sebastian; Frahm, Jan-Peter; Theisen, Inge (2005). "Evidence of zoophagy in a second liverwort species, Pleurozia purpurea". The Bryologist 108 (2): 212–218. 

External links