The analysis of historical sources on the bryophytes of the Šepeta mire

The present article summarizes data on the Šepeta peatland bryophyte diversity obtained from the reviewed historical sources and available bryophyte herbarium collections applying the most recent taxonomic approach. A total of 82 bryophyte species were reported in the historical records published between 1928 and 1940. Most of them were common bog species recorded during the complex survey of Šepeta mire plant communities conducted in 1940. Besides common bog moss species, rare fen and transitional mire bryophyte species such as Drepanocladus lycopodioides, Hamatocaulis vernicosus, Meesia triquetra and Sphagnum platyphyllum were discovered. However, the herbarium collections assembled from the bryophytes collected from Šepeta during the 1940 survey have not survived. Therefore, the presence of Sphagnum jensenii and Scapania paludicola, the bryophyte species hitherto known only from the Šepeta bog, cannot be confirmed for Lithuania. 26 specimens of the bryophytes collected from the Šepeta mire by H. Wojtusiakowa are available in the Herbarium of Warsaw University. Vilnius University Herbarium contains 17 bryophyte specimens collected from the Šepeta mire and its environs by the student of Vytautas Magnus University E. L. Trapidaitė and 46 specimens collected by A. Minkevičius. The focus of 21st century publications on the Šepeta peatland is mainly on the anthropogenically induced spread of the invasive moss species Campylopus introflexus into this area. The liverwort Fossombronia incurva discovered in Šepeta in 2008, when the bog was already heavily exploited for peat extraction, was the first record for Lithuania. However, just two years later its locality in the Šepeta peatland was destroyed.