The Bug Mosses - Buxbaumia sp.

This was one of the interesting mosses that we saw on the Bioblitz a couple of weeks ago. It is a member of the genus Buxbaumia and is most likely Buxbaumia aphylla. There are 4 species in this genus that can be found in North America and this is the only species one of the four that has been found in Connecticut. If you are hiking just a little further north in Massachusetts you might run into both B. aphylla and B. minakatae. The way to tell these two apart are by the following sporophyte features, which are mature in the springtime.

Buxbaumia aphylla
- Capsule glossy/shiny
- Capsule with a ridge separating the Upper side from the Lower

Buxbaumia minakatae
- Capsule dull
- No ridge. Upper and Lower sides gradually merge.

The shiny capsule can be better seen on the second photo. It looks pretty dull in the first, but I think that is just the lighting. Both of the photos show the lighter upper side of the capsule that is bordered by a ridge that separates it from the lower side.

The common name for mosses in the genus Buxbaumia is the bug moss. This name refers to the off-kilter (asymmetrical) sporophyte capsule that kind of resembles a bug.

Another fact of note about members of Buxbaumia is that they have a very reduced gametophyte. They never form a leafy plant. Instead they have persistent protonema, which consists of thin filaments that may remind you of algae, if only you could see them. These protonema do produce sex organs (antheridia and archegonia). Add a little water to the mix and a sporophyte is produced via sexual reproduction. Since there is no leafy gametophyte for Buxbaumia the sporophytes appear to be sticking out of the bare soil as you can see in the photo below. Most mosses have a persistent gametophyte that is large and the sporophyte stays attached to it through its life. Since it lacks this feature this makes Buxbaumia a bit of an odd-ball.


If you have ever seen insects displayed in a natural history collection or museum they are mounted on pins stuck through their body and then poked into the bottom of a lined box. That is what I think the Buxbaumia sporophytes resemble. Specifically, they remind me of stink bugs, which one of my former office-mates studied for his dissertation. Keep your eyes peeled for this cool moss the next time you are out walking. They are a nice little find.

Bryo Emails

I don't know about you, but I have a love-hate relationship with my email. I love being able to efficiently communicate with colleagues. I hate SPAM. I love being able to keep in touch with far away friends. I hate that email can eat up hours out of an otherwise productive day. I love getting updates on a scientific journal's table of contents, so that I don't have to remember to check them. I hate chain-mail that says this must be forwarded lest bad luck will befall you. You get the picture and may have a similar relationship with your email. However it is a necessary evil for many people including me that must be dealt with on a daily basis.

Another item in the love of email column is hearing from people who have read and enjoyed my blog. That is always a bright spot to my day! However I have to admit that my responses to blog emails tend to be shuffled to the bottom of my email list. It can take a couple of weeks for me to make it around to composing a response, especially at crunch times during the semester. So if you are one of those people waiting to hear back from me, I apologize for the delay, but know that you are not forgotten and are on my list.

Speaking of my tardy responses, a few weeks ago I heard from Annette, who has a website about plants (in German) and a more specific site about mosses and liverworts (in German and English). For the bryophytes, she has posted 2 or more color photos for each of the species covered on the website. The photos are really great! They range from broad habit shots down to some higher magnification photos where clusters of antheridia can be seen. There is also an alphabetical list of the species that she has photographed with internal links to the photos. Overall I think that it is a nicely composed website and I would recommend that you check it out to enjoy the beautiful bryophyte photography that Annette has on display.