Bryum pallescens Schwagr.

Bryum pallescens Schleich. ex Schwägr.

SPECIMENS EXAMINED. — Antarctica. West Antarctic Peninsula, Graham Coast, Waddington Bay, Rasmussen Island, 65°15’30.17”S, 64°04’44.32”W, in microhabitats on north-facing rocks in the short moss turf and cushion subformation, 3.III.2021, Parnikoza 17/21 (KRAM [B-258909]); Collins Bay, Darboux Island, 65°23’42.80”S, 64°12’53.73”W, in the bryophyte and lichen assemblages of the short moss turf and cushion subformation on north-facing rocks, 25.II.2020, Parnikoza 17/20 (KRAM [B-258889]).

Bryum pallescens was found in the communities dominated by fruticose lichens and bryophytes with predominantly short cushion and turf growth-form that represent a short moss turf and cushion subformation. The species was found to grow on humus and debris in crevices and cracks of rock outcrops, cliffs and ledges which are typical for its microhabitats in the Antarctic.

Beside B. pseudotriquetrum and B. archangelicum Bruch & Schimp., it is the third most widespread species of the genus in the maritime Antarctic (Fig. 9), although generally it is infrequent and only in a few areas does it occurs in great profusion. Its Antarctic geographical range extends from Bellingshausen Island, the southernmost island of the South Sandwich Islands in the north to Alamode Island in the Terra Firma Islands archipelago in southern Marguerite Bay on the Fallières Coast at latitude 68°43’S. It occurs only on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula from the Davis Coast, where is known only from a single station, through the Danco, Graham and Loubet Coasts where it is widely distributed but scattered to the Fallières Coast (Ochyra et al. 2008a). In the Graham Coast region B. pallescens is known only from two locations on the mainland, including the coast of Lemaire Channel and Cape Tuxen, and it has been recorded from three sites in the Wilhelm Archipelago, namely Booth (Wandel) Island, Black Island in the Argentine Islands and Green Island in the Berthelot Islands archipelago in Collins Bay. The present records from Rasmussen Island and Darboux Island are noteworthy because they much extend its geographical range in the Graham Coast region (Fig. 9).