ON THE PHYTOGEOGRAPHY OF WESTERN MELANESIAN HEPATICAE. A LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

  Based on 37 out of the 40 hepatic families and 399 species, the hepatic flora of Western Melanesia (West Irian, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands) is divided into 11 phytogeographic groups, which are the same ones used earlier to survey the phytogeography of the mosses. Infraspecific taxa are excluded. The taxonomic concepts are adopted from previously published literature dealing with the hepatic flora of Western Melanesia, and from a few as yet unpublished manuscripts. Most of the phytogeographic groups are exemplified by maps showing the total distributions of typical representatives. The largest of these groups in the hepatic flora are: New Guinean or Western Melanesian endemics (37.8% of the flora); Asian-Oceanian species (18.2%); and Malesian endemics (16.2%). Of the main biogeographic regions of the world, the affinities of the Western Melanesian hepatic flora are strongest to SE Asia (As 2 - As 4) and Oceania. The affinities to Australia are fairly weak. Within Malesia, the affinities are strongest to Java, Borneo and Sumatra. In Asia 2 and 3, the affinities are closest to Indochina, Sri Lanka and Japan, and in Oceania to New Caledonia, Fiji and Samoa.