Twenty-Eight Bryophytes New to Svalbard

Localities and notes on ecology, distribution and taxonomy are given for three hepatics and twenty-five mosses new to the Svalbard ar- chipelago, Norway, European Arctic. A lectotype is selected for Tetrapolodon pallidus Hag. This paper is the first in a series to deal with the bryophyte flora of Svalbard. The papers will take up problems concerning taxonomy, nomenclature, ecology, geography and history. One of the tasks will be to revise old collections preserved in Scandina- vian herbaria. Finally the intention is to write an annotated list of the bryophytes of Svalbard. In the summers of 1973 and 1974 I visited Svalbard, partly to collect mosses. Both years I took part in an expedition from the University of Trondheim. The first year we stayed at Kapp Wijk in Isfjorden, and the second year in Ny-Alesund, Kongsfjorden and in Liefdefjorden. The visits lasted for about two months each year (25 June-25 Au- gust). Localities referred to in this paper are shown in Figure 1. Unless otherwise stated, the bryophytes were collected in 1974. A considerable amount of material was brought home, and only parts of it have been worked up. But it can already be said that the collections will add much to our knowledge about the bryophyte flora of Svalbard. Many species are reported for the first time from the Archipelago, and several species reported in the literature as rare or very rare have been found to be rather widespread. The island Bjornoya is not re- garded as a part of Svalbard in this work. Species reported as new to Svalbard in this paper will also be of great importance from a bryogeographical point of view. Some authors have claimed that there must have been ice free refugia on Svalbard during the last Ice Age. The reason for this has been the existence of a small endemic group of taxa of vascular plants (Ronning, 1965a) and a larger group of lichens (Lynge, 1938). In North America the existence of such refugia is demonstrated by geological methods, and both vascular plants and bryophytes are used in the delimitation of the refugia (see e.g. Schofield, 1972; Steere, 1976). The bryophytes have turned out to be more useful than expected. Vitt (1976) found that several species of the genus Seligeria in North America occur only in the vicinity of either unglaciated areas or in areas hypothesized as plant refugia; S. oelan-