Epiphyllous Liverworts from Batanta Island (Indonesia, West Papua) III

Abstract

The epiphyllous liverwort collection was continued after the Covid pandemic in 2023 at the low and medium elevations of Batanta Island in the tropical rainforest belt by the entomolo-gist Tibor Kovács and his colleagues, which were identified by Tamás Pócs. The collection resulted in 35 species of which 9 liverworts proved to be new to Batanta Island along the species already known from the previous collections: Cheilolejeunea trapezia, Cheilolejeunea vittata, Cololejeunea schmidtii, Cololejeunea tenella, Colura herzogi, Drepanolejeunea cyclops, Leptolejeunea maculata, Microlejeunea punctiformis, and Radula javanica. Further three taxa are new even to science: Cololejeunea tiberii, Cololejeunea touwii subsp. batantae subsp. nov. and Drepanolejeunea levicornua var. incurviloba var. nov., which were described and illustrated by macro and microphotos. One previous identification was corrected. The results of 7 years of collecting activity resulting in 48 epiphyllous liverwort taxa known from Batanta Island are summarised.