Bryogeography of the Hypopterygiaceae The moss family
Hypopterygiaceae contains eight genera. This page discusses the
bryogeography of the family with hypotheses as to how some the
family's current distribution arose. The bulk of the information
is taken from Chapter 7 of Kruijer's monograph listed in the
references at the end of this page. The genus Hypopterygium, on
which the family name is based, contains seven species and, as a
genus, is widespread. The following map shows the parts of the
world in which the genus is found. To say that the genus is
found in all those areas is not to say that all species are
widespread. Hypopterygium tamarisci is very widespread and found
in most of the areas marked above, except Hawaii and the north-
west of North America. By contrast, Hypopterygium sandwicense is
known only from Hawaii. Cyathophorum is another genus with seven
species and has the following distribution. The combined
distribution of the two species of Lopidium covers much of the
area occupied by Cyathophor