Pleurozia

Pleurozia
Pleurozia purpurea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Marchantiophyta
Class: Jungermanniopsida
Subclass: Metzgeriidae
Order: Pleuroziales
Schljakov
Family: Pleuroziaceae
(Schiffn.) Müll.Frib.[2]
Genus: Pleurozia
Dumort.[1]
Synonyms
  • Eopleurozia Schust.
  • Physiotium Nees

Pleurozia is the only genus of liverworts in the family Pleuroziaceae, which is now classified in its own order Pleuroziales, but was previously included in a broader circumscription of the Jungermanniales.[3] The genus includes twelve species,[4][5] and as a whole is both physically distinctive and widely distributed.[6]

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.[7]

  1. ^ Dumortier, B. C. (1835). Recueil d'observations sur les Jungermanniacées. Vol. fasc. 1. Tournay. pp. 1–27.
  2. ^ Müller, K. (1909). Die Lebermoose Deutschlands, Oesterreichs und der Schweiz, mit Berücksichtigung der übrigen Länder Europas. Rabenhorst's Kryptogamen-Flora. Leipzig.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Schuster, Rudolf M. (1966). The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America. Vol. 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. doi:10.2307/3243984. JSTOR 3243984.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference world2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Jones, E. W. (2004). Liverwort and Hornwort Flora of West Africa. Scripta Botanica Belgica. Vol. 30. Meise: National Botanic Garden (Belgium). pp. 197–198. ISBN 90-72619-61-7.
  7. ^ Hess, Sebastian; Frahm, Jan-Peter; Theisen, Inge (2005). "Evidence of zoophagy in a second liverwort species, Pleurozia purpurea". The Bryologist. 108 (2): 212–218. doi:10.1639/6. S2CID 85079354.