Notes on the Herbivory on Buxbaumia viridis Sporophytes in the Pyrenees

Abstract Buxbaumia viridis is a bryophyte whose gametophyte is highly reduced, while its sporophyte is relatively large, present all year round in its different phenological stages. In the Pyrenees, where the species is present in humid forests, especially pure Abies alba or mixed A. alba and Fagus sylvatica forests, the sporophytes mature in spring, losing their winter green colour. Herbivory has been detected on young capsules in spring. Observed damages are mainly of two types: cut setae, where capsule is completely lost and whose responsible organism has not been identified; and more frequently, torn capsules where sporal mass is partly gone, sometimes only part of the theca at the base of the capsule remains. The responsible organisms in the second type are young slugs (genus Arion), what have been observed in situ twice. The animal tears the capsule and scrapes with its radula the sporal mass from the inside. Between 1999 and 2014, we visited 40 localities with Buxbaumia viridis populations, located...