| Summary: | Typescript Thesis (MSc)-- University of Melbourne, Faculty of Science, 2008 Includes bibliographical references. The liverwort genus Bazzania is represented on all continents except Antarctica, but most species described to date have a tropical or subtropical distribution. Until this study, 17 species of a world-wide total of about 360 species had been reported from Australia. This study recognises the presence of 34 Bazzania species in Australia. Six species previously reported from Australia were found to be synonyms of other species, and another is probably also a synonym. Thus this study reduces the original 17 species to 10. One subspecies is proposed to be raised to specific rank, bringing this total to 11. An additional 24 species were found to occur in Australia during this study, including several very common and widely distributed species and several with very limited distributions. Seven of these species are new; the other seventeen were already known from nearby regions, mainly South East Asia and New Guinea. There are major affinities (at a species level) with New Zealand, the West Pacific Islands, New Guinea and South East Asia. There are tenuous affinities with Africa, West Asia, East Asia, the East Pacific Islands and South America, and no affinities at all with Europe and North America. A Gondwanan element of seven species, an Indomalayan element of 13 species and a New Endemic element of 11 to 14 species (included three that extend to New Caledonia or New Zealand) are suggested. Another species has perhaps the largest distribution of any Bazzania species, occurring in Africa, the western Indian Ocean islands, Australia, New Zealand and South America. Species richness in Australia is found to be highest in a narrow mountainous region in Far North Queensland, from the Bellenden Ker Range near Cairns to Mount Finnigan in Cedar Bay National Park. Most of the species treated in this study are poorly known, and illustrations of most species are either poor or non-existent. Most species are ...
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