Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 February 2023 | 15(2): 22726-22730

 

 

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7981.15.2.22726-22730

#7981 | Received 19 April 2022 | Final received 22 December 2022 | Finally accepted 27 January 2023

 

 

Rediscovery of Sewardiella tuberifera Kash., a long-lost monotypic endemic Indian liverwort

 

Sapana Pant 1, S.D. Tewari 2 , Prachi Joshi 3, Manisha Bhandari 4 & Richa Arya 5

 

1,2,4,5 Department of Botany, Indira Priyadarshini Govt. Girls Post Graduate College of Commerce, Haldwani, Nainital, Uttarakhand 263139, India.

3 Department of Botany, Govt. PG College Ranikhet, Almora, Uttarakhand 263645, India.

1 sapanapant2017@gmail.com, 2 shiv.tew@gmail.com (corresponding author), 3 prachi.pragya21@gmail.com, 4 bmannu4@gmail.com, 5 richa.arya.67@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Abstract: An extremely rare, long-lost, monotypic endemic, Indian liverwort, Sewardiella tuberifera Kash. has recently been recollected after a gap of over three-and-a-half decades from an altogether new location, the Mukteshwar region (2,171 m) of Nainital district in the Kumaun Himalaya, Uttarakhand. The remarkable rediscovery of this monotypic, endemic Himalayan liverwort is a significant finding for the world’s bryological treasure. Along with other rare Himalayan monotypic endemics such as Aitchisoniella himalayensis Kash. and Stephensoniella brevipedunculata Kash., the currently located sporiferous population of Sewardiella was discovered persisting in small, dispersed, sparse patches with 5–30 individuals. The currently spotted collection site is being considered a ‘bryological hotspot’. As the area develops as a popular ecotourism destination, the original habitat of these hepatics in a lime stone-dominated, south-west facing, unstable sloppy site at Mukteshwar is under constant pressure from several developmental activities. Hence, serious conservation steps are needed to protect this hotspot supporting Himalayan bryophyte jewels. To ensure long term perpetuation and conservation of red-listed hepatic taxa, an attempt is being made to translocate part of the population to ecologically and climatically identical safer site, including a developing ‘moss garden’ at Lingadhar (Nainital).

 

Keywords: Endemic, hotspot, rare hepatic, Himalayan liverwort, Kumaun Himalaya, Nainital district, Red List

 

 

Editor: Afroz Alam, Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan, India.         Date of publication: 26 February 2023 (online & print)

 

Citation: Pant, S, S.D. Tewari, P. Joshi, M. Bhandari & R. Arya (2023). Rediscovery of Sewardiella tuberifera Kash., a long-lost monotypic endemic Indian liverwort. Journal of Threatened Taxa 15(2): 22726–22730. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7981.15.2.22726-22730

 

Copyright: © Pant et al. 2023. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

 

Funding: No funding agencies.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Author details: Sapana Pant, a PhD scholar working under the supervision of Dr S.D. Tewari in the field of bryophyte taxonomy and conservation. She has received Kumaun University gold medal in MSc. Recently she received the “young scientist award” at the 15th Uttarakhand State Science and Technology Congress 2020-22 for the best oral presentation and so far, published eight research papers in national and international journals. Dr S.D. Tewari Professor and former Head of the Department of Botany  Govt. Girls PG College of Haldwani. He has 40 years of research experience in the field of bryology with 80 research papers and three books of his credit. Currently, he has been given an opportunity to work as a chief advisor of India’s first “Moss Garden” developed at Lingadhar, Nainital. Dr Prachi Joshi, assistant professor Department of Botany Govt. PG. College Ranikhet has 20 years of teaching and research experience.  She is specialised in the field of phytosociological studies in bryophytes and angiosperms. She has 20 research papers and one book of his credit. Manisha Bhandari, a research scholar pursuing her PhD work under the supervision of Dr S.D. Tewari. Presently she is working in the field of bryo-systematics and Phytosociological studies of the Cedrus deodara forest at Lohaghat. Till now she has published nine research papers and one booklets on bryophyte diversity. Richa Arya currently working as a research student under the supervision of Dr S.D. Tewari and co-supervision of Dr Prachi Joshi. She is engaged in  “Bryo-exploratory studies of various Forest Types along an Altitudinal Gradient. So far, she has published three research papers, and one booklet on bryo-diversity.

 

Author contributions: The main and corresponding authors (S.Pant and S. D.Tewari) collected, identified the samples and finalized the initial draft prepared by co-authors (P Joshi, M. Bhandari and R. Arya).

 

Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to Dr. A.K. Asthana senior principal scientist, CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow and Dr. B.S. Kholia, scientist c, BSI Dehradun for providing academic inputs and to the principal Dr. Shashi Purohit, Indira Priyadarshini Government Girls Post Graduate College of Commerce Haldwani, Nainital for furnishing laboratory facilities. We are also thankful to Mr. Ram Lakhan Yadav, block coordinator (GIS Expert), Tonk Rajasthan for preparing/providing the study area map. Our thanks are also to Dr. Saraswati Bisht and research scholars of Bryology Lab, Neha Kohli & Neha Binwal for their help in different ways.

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

Sewardiella Kash., a monotypic, endemic, and long-lost Indian liverwort genus of the phylum Marchantiophyta, class Jungermanniopsida, family Petalophyllaceae, order Fossombroniales, has been discovered after a long period of time in the Kumaun region of the western Himalaya (Bryophyte Specialist Group 2000). The genus Sewardiella is classified as ‘Vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List due to its limited distribution in the Indian western Himalaya (Bryophyte Specialist Group 2000). Kashyap (1915) established and described this unusual genus based on a collection from Shimla (Himanchal Pradesh) and Mussoorie (Uttarakhand) in the western Himalayan region. Kashyap (1929) has described the morpho-taxonomic details of a single species as S. tuberifera. Occasionally, many workers collected and described Sewardiella from different localities of the western Himalaya, India (Pande et al. 1955; Pant 1983; Udar & Srivastava 1983a,b; Tewari & Pant 1984). The mycorrhiza and tuber formation of this liverwort was studied by Chalaud (1932). Pande & Mishra (1937) delineated the life history of this plant, and Mehra (1938) reported 18 numbers of diploid (2x) chromosomes from the archaesporial cell nucleus of this plant. A detailed embryological account of this extraordinary genus Sewardiella was provided by Mehra & Khanna (1950). Pande et al. (1955) reported this hepatic as of common occurrence in Nainital and environs. Udar & Srivastava (1983a,b) have also thoroughly described the documentation of rare and endangered liverworts in India, as well as their reproductive biology. Pant (1983) listed this taxon as threatened bryophyte of Kumaun Himalaya. Tewari & Pant (1984) made scanty collections of this plant in a sterile state from the Kumaun region, viz., Suyalbari (1,100 m), Chaubatia (1,820 m), and Dhakuri (2,500 m). Pant et al. (1994) have again stated that this taxon is on the ‘red list hepatic’. After 1984, there is no report of the collection of this extremely rare, phylogenetically significant liverwort from any other part of the country. Recently, Singh (2008) marked this taxon as red list endemic hepatics. One of the authors (SDT) has revisited all the earlier mentioned sites, but no traces of its occurrence could be recorded. Due to drastically changing original habitat conditions, it has gradually disappeared from the site of its occurrence over the years. Fortunately, during a recent bryophyte survey and collection in the Kumaun region of the western Himalaya, a new location of this liverwort in a fully fruiting state was discovered in and around the Mukteshwar area of district Nainital (Uttarakhand). The currently encountered poor sporiferous Sewardiella population was observed as small, scattered, scanty patches ranging 5–30 individuals in extremely disturbed habitat conditions gripped by rapid urbanization and anthropogenic activities, as well as the enormous mounting pressure of ecotourism. Based on the earlier records as well as the present collection of many interesting Himalayan hepatics like Aitchisoniella, Stephensoniella, Athalamia, Cryptomitrium, Exormotheca, Fossombronia, Sewardiella, and Haplomitrium species from the anthropogenically disturbed site at Mukteshwar, this locality may be declared a unique ‘bryological hotspot’. Hence, conservation measures are urgently needed to save this hotspot as well as the dwindling hepatic jewels of the Himalaya from unplanned urbanization and developmental activities.

 

 

Material and Methods

 

During the months of April (10 April 2021) to September (26 September 2021), a thorough survey and collection were conducted in and around the Mukteshwar area of district Nainital (29.47270N & 79.64660E) within an elevational range of 2,240–2,266 m (Figure 1). Sterile patches of Sewardiella were first noticed at the end of September. Fortunately, in the first week of October (2 October 2021–6 October 2021), we were able to collect both sterile and copiously sporiferous thalli of S. tuberifera from a south-west facing, sloppy, lime stone hill site. Field as well as microphotographs of both gametophytic and sporophytic parts of the liverwort were taken. The identification was confirmed by Dr. S.D. Tewari based on the earlier collections made from Kumaun region (Tewari & Pant 1984). Underlying substrate pH was measured by means of pH meter. The voucher specimens have been deposited in the herbarium of Botany Department, I.P.G.G.P.G. College of Commerce, Haldwani, Nainital (SP 112, SP 154, SP 187, SP 204, SP 234) and cryptogamic herbarium of National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow (LWG/ SP 154, SP 204/ SD-2).

 

 

Results

 

Taxonomic description

Sewardiella tuberifera Kashyap, New Phytol. 14:5. 1915.

Dioicous, thallose, green, forming scattered patches, when young are generally confused with fern prothallus. Thallus winged, 8–9 mm long, 12–13 mm wide, often forked with thick midrib; wings unequal, many layered at base, gradually becoming thin with wavy margin. Lobe cells hexagonal to ovoid, 46.55–53.52 x 26.6 µm towards apex, 133–159.6 x 39.9–53 µm in the middle, 66.5–93.1 x 53.2 µm towards base. Rhizoids abundant on ventral surface, long, hyaline, unicellular. Ventral scales in two rows, minute, red colored, multicellular. Perianth bell shaped, lacerated margin with numerous narrow projections; calyptra thin. Sporophyte one or more in each perianth; foot small, seta dull green, included with in the perianth or slightly exerted, 1.5–1.8 cm long. Capsule, rounded, 1.5–2.0 mm in diameter, at maturity looks like “miniature black plum”; wall 2–3 layered; inner layer with U shaped thickening bands. Spores reticulate - lamellate, 40–48 µm in diameter. Elaters brown, bi - tri spiral, 332–425 µm long, 9.6–10 µm wide at middle (Image 1 A–L).

Specimens examined: India, Western Himalaya, Uttarakhand, Nainital, Mukteshwar, 2,240–2,266 m, (29.47270N & 79.64660E) 10 April 21: SP 112, 26 September 2021: SP 154, 2 October 21: SP 187, SP 204, SP 234, leg. S.D. Tewari, Sapana Pant, Manisha Bhandari (Herbarium of Botany Department, Indira Priyadarshini Govt. Girls Post Graduate College of Commerce Haldwani, Nainital).

Distribution: India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand).

Ecology: Scattered, scanty, sporiferous population of S. tuberifera were found to be growing on shady, moist, lime stone (pH 7.1–7.3)  dominated south-west facing, sloppy site at Mukteshwar area of District Nainital in association with other thalloid liverworts like Asterella, Stephensoniella, Fossombronia; hornwort like Anthoceros, and mosses like Anomobryum, Anoectangium, Barbula, Cryptoleptodon, Dicranum, Entodon, Fissidens, Herpetineuron, Hyophila, Pogonatum, Symblepharis, and Timiella species.

 

 

Discussion

 

The ‘butterfly-like’ morphology of S. tuberifera, with a prominent apical tuber, makes this liverwort easily identifiable in the field, even with the naked eye, but it can also be confused with fern prothallus in a sterile state. Still, the fact that the species could not be found in its known locations and habitat conditions in the western Himalaya, where it was once abundant for a long time, is cause for concern and indicates the species’ extreme rarity.

 

 

Conservation Measures

 

If the lone surviving site of S. tuberifera in India, Mukteshwar, is not protected and conserved in time, this fragile liverwort will become extinct. Keeping this in mind, an attempt is being made by us to transplant this liverwort from the highly disturbed site to a relatively undisturbed site with more or less the same topographical habitat conditions (sloppy site). Another attempt is being made to transplant some populations in small patches by creating similar habitat conditions in the recently developed “Moss Garden” at Lingadhar (Nainital), in order to monitor long-term perpetuation and conservation progress. Some of the sporiferous material may be preserved in vitro in the future.

 

For figure & image – click here for full PDF

 

 

References

 

Bryophyte Specialist Group (2000). Sewaridiella tuberifera. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2000 e.T39192A10168752. Accessed on 04 December 2021. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2000.RLTS.T39192A10168752.en

Kashyap, S.R. (1915).  Morphological and biological notes on new and little-known West-Himalayan Liverworts. III. New Phytologist 14: 1–18.

Kashyap, S.R. (1929).  Liverworts of the Western Himalayas and the Punjab plain. I, Lahore, 129 pp.

Chalaud, G. (1932). Mycorhizes et tuberization chez Sewardiella tuberifera Kash. Annales Bryologici 5: 1–16.

Pande, S.K. & R.N. Mishra (1937). On the morphology of Sewardiella tuberifera Kash. Proceeding 24th Indian Science Congress (Hyderabad): 263.

Mehra, P.N. (1938). A study of the chromosome number in some Indian members of the family Codoniaceae. Proceedings Indian Academy Sciences B 8: 1–7.

Mehra, P.N. & A.L. Khanna (1950). Embryology of Sewardiella tuberifera Kash. Botanical Gazette 112: 31–42.

Pande, S.K., K.P. Srivastava & R.N. Mishra (1955). Studies in Indian Metzgerineae-ll. Sewardiella tuberifera Kash. Phytomorphology 5(1): 57–67.

Udar, R. & S.C. Srivastava (1983a). Rare and endangered liverworts of India, pp. 303–312. In: Jain, S.K. & R.R. Rao (eds.). An Assessment of Threatened Plants of India (Proceedings of Seminar, sept. 14–17, 1981). Botanical Survey of India, Botanic Gardens, Howrah, 334 pp. 

Udar, R. & S.C. Srivastava (1983b). Reproductive biology of some Indian liverworts. Phytomorphology 33: 37–46.

Pant, G. (1983). Threatened bryophytes of Naini Tal, pp. 313–317. In Jain, S.K. & R.R. Rao (eds.). An Assessment of Threatened Plants of India (Proceedings of Seminar, sept. 14–17, 1981). Botanical Survey of India, Botanic Gardens, Howrah, 334 pp. 

Tewari, S.D. & G. Pant (1984). Present distribution of two rare, monotypic, endemic liverworts, Stephensoniella brevipedunculata Kash. and Sewardiella tuberifera Kash. in Naini Tal and environs. Journal Himalayan Research and Development 3(1): 48–50.

Pant, G., S.D. Tewari & S. Joshi (1994). Vanishing greenery in Kumaon Himalaya: Observations on bryoflora. Geophytology 23(2): 253–257.

Singh, D.K. (2008). Red listing of Hepaticae and Anthocerotae in India, pp. 451–458. In: Mohamed, H., B. B. Baki, A. Nasrulhaq- boyce & P.K.Y. Lee (eds.). Bryology in the new Millennium. University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 513 pp.