Splachnum

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Splachnum
Splachnum rubrum 33797414.png
Splachnum rubrum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Bryophyta
Class: Bryopsida
Subclass: Bryidae
Order: Splachnales
Family: Splachnaceae
Genus: Splachnum
Hedw.

Splachnum, also known as dung moss or petticoat moss, is a genus of moss that is well known for its entomophily. It commonly grows on patches of dung or decomposing animal matter.

Contents

Etymology

The name Splachnum comes from the Ancient Greek word splachnos, meaning guts or entrails. This refers to appearance of the top of the plant's dried sporophyte - it is often red and wrinkled. [1]

Description

This genus is known for its unique sporophyte structure. Sporophytes are brightly coloured and produce an odour similar to dung meant to attract insects. This sort of chemical mimicry of decomposing matter is unique in Splachnum and closely related genera. [2]

Evolution and taxonomy

Because Splachnum grows in such specific conditions, it is used as a model species for understanding the evolutionary mechanisms necessary for co-existing in patchy habitats. [3]

Species

See also

Related Research Articles

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Chondrus crispus—commonly called Irish moss or carrageen moss —is a species of red algae which grows abundantly along the rocky parts of the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America. In its fresh condition this protist is soft and cartilaginous, varying in color from a greenish-yellow, through red, to a dark purple or purplish-brown. The principal constituent is a mucilaginous body, made of the polysaccharide carrageenan, which constitutes 55% of its dry weight. The organism also consists of nearly 10% dry weight protein and about 15% dry weight mineral matter, and is rich in iodine and sulfur. When softened in water it has a sea-like odour. Because of the abundant cell wall polysaccharides, it will form a jelly when boiled, containing from 20 to 100 times its weight of water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moss</span> Division of non-vascular land plants

Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophytasensu stricto. Bryophyta may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hornworts. Mosses typically form dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or shady locations. The individual plants are usually composed of simple leaves that are generally only one cell thick, attached to a stem that may be branched or unbranched and has only a limited role in conducting water and nutrients. Although some species have conducting tissues, these are generally poorly developed and structurally different from similar tissue found in vascular plants. Mosses do not have seeds and after fertilisation develop sporophytes with unbranched stalks topped with single capsules containing spores. They are typically 0.2–10 cm (0.1–3.9 in) tall, though some species are much larger. Dawsonia, the tallest moss in the world, can grow to 50 cm (20 in) in height. There are approximately 12,000 species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryophyte</span> Terrestrial plants that lack vascular tissue

Bryophytes are a group of land plants, sometimes treated as a taxonomic division, that contains three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. In the strict sense, Bryophyta consists of the mosses only. Bryophytes are characteristically limited in size and prefer moist habitats although they can survive in drier environments. The bryophytes consist of about 20,000 plant species. Bryophytes produce enclosed reproductive structures, but they do not produce flowers or seeds. They reproduce sexually by spores and asexually by fragmentation or the production of gemmae. Though bryophytes were considered a paraphyletic group in recent years, almost all of the most recent phylogenetic evidence supports the monophyly of this group, as originally classified by Wilhelm Schimper in 1879. The term bryophyte comes from Ancient Greek βρύον (brúon) 'tree moss, liverwort', and φυτόν (phutón) 'plant'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embryophyte</span> Subclade of green plants, also known as land plants

The Embryophyta, or land plants, are the most familiar group of green plants that comprise vegetation on Earth. Embryophytes have a common ancestor with green algae, having emerged within the Phragmoplastophyta clade of green algae as sister of the Zygnematophyceae. The Embryophyta consist of the bryophytes plus the polysporangiophytes. Living embryophytes therefore include hornworts, liverworts, mosses, lycophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants. The land plants have diplobiontic life cycles and it is accepted now that they emerged from freshwater, multi-celled algae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marchantiophyta</span> Botanical division of non-vascular land plants

The Marchantiophyta are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hornwort</span> Division of non-vascular land plants with horn-shaped sporophytes

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Histeridae</span> Family of beetles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entomophily</span> Form of pollination by insects

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<i>Cooksonia</i> Group of vascular land plants (extinct)

Cooksonia is an extinct group of primitive land plants, treated as a genus, although probably not monophyletic. The earliest Cooksonia date from the middle of the Silurian ; the group continued to be an important component of the flora until the end of the Early Devonian, a total time span of 433 to 393 million years ago. While Cooksonia fossils are distributed globally, most type specimens come from Britain, where they were first discovered in 1937. Cooksonia includes the oldest known plant to have a stem with vascular tissue and is thus a transitional form between the primitive non-vascular bryophytes and the vascular plants.

<i>Takakia</i> Genus of mosses

Takakia is a genus of two species of mosses known from western North America and central and eastern Asia. The genus is placed as a separate family, order and class among the mosses. It has had a history of uncertain placement, but the discovery of sporophytes clearly of the moss-type firmly supports placement with the mosses.

<i>Conocephalum</i> Genus of plants

Conocephalum is a genus of complex thalloid liverworts in the order Marchantiales and is the only extant genus in the family Conocephalaceae. Some species of Conocephalum are assigned to the Conocephalum conicum complex, which includes several cryptic species. Conocephalum species are large liverworts with distinct patterns on the upper thallus, giving the appearance of snakeskin. The species Conocephalum conicum is named for its cone-shaped reproductive structures, called archegoniophores. Common names include snakeskin liverwort, great scented liverwort and cat-tongue liverwort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scarabaeinae</span> Subfamily of beetles

The scarab beetle subfamily Scarabaeinae consists of species collectively called true dung beetles. Most of the beetles of this subfamily feed exclusively on dung. However, some may feed on decomposing matter including carrion, decaying fruits and fungi. Dung beetles can be placed into three structural guilds based on their method of dung processing namely rollers (telecoprids), dwellers (endocoprids) and tunnelers (paracoprids). Dung removal and burial by dung beetles result in ecological benefits such as soil aeration and fertilization; improved nutrient cycling and uptake by plants, increase in Pasture quality, biological control of pest flies and intestinal parasites and secondary seed dispersal. Well-known members include the genera Scarabaeus and Sisyphus, and Phanaeus vindex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prothallus</span> Gametophyte stage in the fern life cycle

A prothallus, or prothallium, is usually the gametophyte stage in the life of a fern or other pteridophyte. Occasionally the term is also used to describe the young gametophyte of a liverwort or peat moss as well. In lichens it refers to the region of the thallus that is free of algae.

<i>Tayloria</i> (plant) Genus of mosses

Tayloria is a genus of mosses in the family Splachnaceae. It comprises 45 species, divided among 6 subgenera:

<i>Splachnum sphaericum</i> Species of moss in the family Splachnaceae

Splachnum sphaericum, also known as pinkstink dung moss, is a species of moss. This species occurs in North America. It also occurs in upland Britain, where it is known as round-fruited collar-moss and in north temperate and boreal regions of Europe. Its habitat is bog and wet heathland where it grows on herbivore dung. This and other Splachnum species are entomophilous. The sporophytes, which are generally coloured red or black, produce an odour of carrion that is attractive to flies and the spores are dispersed by flies to fresh dung.

<i>Dawsonia</i> (plant) Genus of mosses

Dawsonia is a genus of acrocarpous mosses. Dawsonia, along with other members of the order Polytrichales, are taller than most mosses and have thicker leaves. Their sporophytes have conducting systems analogous to those of vascular plants. Dawsonia superba is found in New Zealand, Australia and New Guinea. D. longifolia is found in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Australia. There is uncertainty as to whether D. superba and D. longifolia are actually distinct species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Splachnaceae</span> Family of mosses

Splachnaceae is a family of mosses, containing around 70 species in 6 genera. Around half of those species are entomophilous, using insects to disperse their spores, a characteristic found in no other seedless land plants.

<i>Harposporium anguillulae</i> Species of fungus

Harposporium anguillulae is a member of the genus Harposporium. It is an endoparasitic nematophagous fungus that attacks nematodes and eelworms and is isolated commonly from field and agricultural soils as well as used as an experimental organism in the laboratory.

<i>Polytrichastrum formosum</i> Species of moss

Polytrichastrum formosum, commonly known as the bank haircap moss, is a species of moss belonging to the family Polytrichaceae.

<i>Splachnum rubrum</i> Species of moss in the family Splachnaceae

Splachnum rubrum, is a species of moss in the Splachnum genus which is found in the Northern Hemisphere. Like other species in the Splachnum genus, it is known for growing on animal waste and being entomophilous. Although very rare, its bright red-purple sporangia makes its sporophyte stage stand out well when seenin the wild.

References

  1. Meagher, David. "An etymology of Australian bryophyte genera. 2 — Mosses" (PDF).
  2. Marino, Paul; Raguso, Robert; Goffinet, Bernard (2009). "The ecology and evolution of fly dispersed dung mosses (Family Splachnaceae): Manipulating insect behaviour through odour and visual cues". Symbiosis. 47 (2): 61–76. doi:10.1007/BF03182289. S2CID   36557683.
  3. Marino, Paul C. (1991). "Dispersal and Coexistence of Mosses (Splachnaceae) in Patchy Habitats". Journal of Ecology. 79 (4): 1047–1060. doi:10.2307/2261097. ISSN   0022-0477. JSTOR   2261097.