Open Access

Jan-Peter Frahm

• Campylopus with nearly 200 revised species is one of the largest genera of mosses in the world and has extremely broad geographical, altitudinal and ecological ranges. Factors to be considered for the rich speciation are 1) the enormous anatomical plasticity of the structure of the costa, 2) the ability for vegetative propagation utilizing different methods, and 3) the special twist mechanism of the cygneous setae. Phytogeographical interpretations of present ranges of species of Campylopus lead to the conclusion that this genus is of Gondwanalandic origin. Most of the species seem to be cool temperate in origin. They have adapted to dry habitats in the Mesozoic and invaded the tropical mountains during the Tertiary, accompanied by rich speciation. This is supported by the physiology of these species. According to preliminary gas exchange measurements, tropical montane species do not differ from temperate species, and are not able to stand climatic conditions of the tropical lowland rainforests; a relatively young habitat for bryophytes. A cladistic analysis of the infrageneric categories of Campylopus using phytogeographical evaluations of apomorphic character states shows that the section Homalocarpus seems to be the most primitive and the subgenera Campylopidulum and Thysanomitrion the most derived.