The Mosses of Crocker Range Park, Malaysian Borneo

Abstract This paper reports the mosses from Crocker Range Park (CRP) in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. In total, 293 species, three subspecies and eight varieties belonging to 118 genera and 36 families are reported. This represents about 40% and 47% of the species and infra-specific taxa reported from Borneo and Sabah, respectively. Out of these, six species are new records for Borneo, namely Barbella horridula, Chaetomitrium lancifolium, Distichophyllum leiopogon, Rhaphidostichum luzonense, Rosulabryum capillare and Taxiphyllum taxirameum and 12 species and one variety are new to Sabah. With these additions, the current number of mosses in Sabah and Borneo are 651 and 766, respectively. The largest family of mosses is Calymperaceae with 35 species and one subspecies, followed by Sematophyllaceae with 32 species and two varieties and Pylaisiadelphaceae with 21 species and one variety. In conclusion, CRP has a very high species richness of mosses which is the second highest in Borneo, after Mount Kinabalu.


Introduction
Crocker Range Park (CRP) is located in the west coast of Sabah, East Malaysia in Borneo (latitude 5°07' to 5°56'N and longitude 115°50' to 116°28'E). This park is about 110 km long and 15 km wide, covering an area of 139,919 ha, making it the largest terrestrial park and protected area in Sabah. This park was first designated as a For-est Reserve under the Forest Ordinance in 1969 but was subsequently converted to a State Park in 1984 for the conservation of natural resources and ecosystems, under the jurisdiction of Sabah Parks Trustees (Usui et al. 2006). In June 2014, Crocker Range was designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve consisting of the whole area of CRP and the three forest reserves within the range.
CRP, in the past, had received less attention from bryologists when compared to Kinabalu Park. These two parks are both on the Crocker Range which is the longest range in Sabah, extending from Kudat (northern tip of Borneo) to Sipitang (southern part of Sabah). CRP has become more accessible after the establishment of seven substations within the park between the years 2003 and 2005 and the opening of a new road system from Ulu Kimanis (western part) to Keningau Town (eastern part), cutting through the central part of the park. Another factor which may have contributed to the lesser attention received by CRP is the fact that its highest peak is only 2,076 m a.s.l., just half of that of Mount Kinabalu (4,059 m a.s.l.). Nevertheless, 27% of the total area of CRP is more than 1,000 m a.s.l., with 16 peaks above this height (Usui et al. 2006).
To date, only two studies on mosses from this park have been published. Suleiman and Akiyama (2004) reported 126 species of mosses belonging to 74 genera and 27 families, collected during the CRP Scientific Expedition in 2002 at Ulu Kimanis and adjacent areas within the elevations of 500-1,400 m a.s.l. Recently, Suleiman and Jotan (2015) reported 38 species and three varieties of mosses belonging to 17 genera and 11 families collected during a diversity study of epiphytic mosses along the Minduk Sirung Trail, a new 12 km trail connecting Mount Alab and Mahua substations (north-eastern part). In their study, mosses were collected from only three sampling areas of 20 m × 20 m.
There are two other unpublished studies on mosses in CRP. The first one was by Kong (2006), who conducted a study on the diversity of mosses in Keningau Research Permanent Plot which is only 50 m × 50 m. She collected 40 species belonging to 26 genera and 14 families. The second one was by Chin (2008), who has studied the diversity of epiphytic mosses within 0-2 m of tree trunks, in the Mount Alab Permanent Research Plot (50 m × 50 m). She collected 20 species in 10 genera and seven families in this mossy forest (1,700-1,800 m a.s.l.). The present report attempts to produce a comprehensive checklist of mosses found in CRP based on collections from the year 2002 to 2008 and herbarium specimens deposited in the BORNEENSIS Herbarium of the Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (BORH) and Herbarium of the Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo (HYO).

Methods
All specimens of mosses from the following 12 localities within the park were examined and identified. Areas ties range from lowland to upper montane forests, covering secondary to primary forests, from 50 m to 2,000 m a.s.l. Details of the collection localities are listed in Table 1. Identified specimens were deposited at BORH and a set of duplicates were sent to the Herbarium of Sabah Park (SNP). Some duplicates were also deposited at HYO, Herbarium of University of Malaya (KLU) and Herbarium of Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (MEL).

Results and discussion
A total of 1,403 specimens of mosses from CRP were examined during this study. Amongst these, 293 species, three subspecies and eight varieties belonging to 118 genera and 36 families were identified (Table 2 and Appendix 1). The five dominant families of mosses in CRP are Calymperaceae with 35 species and one subspecies (11.8%), followed by Sematophyllaceae with 32 species and two varieties (11.2%), Pylaisiadelphaceae with 21 species and one variety (7.2%), Dicranaceae with 21 species (6.9%) and Daltoniaceae with 20 species (6.6 %). All of these families, except for Dicranaceae, are lowland families as ca. 70% of CRP land area is below 1,000m a.s.l. The species richness of mosses in the study area is very high; 40% of the total of 766 species and infra-specific taxa reported from Borneo and 47% of the total of 651 species and infra-specific taxa reported from Sabah (Andi and Suleiman 2005, 2009, 2011a, 2011b, 2017, Suleiman and Akiyama 2007, Higuchi et al. 2008, Akiyama 2010, Ho et al. 2010, Ellis et al. 2010, 2016a, 2016b, Andi et al. 2015, Chua and Suleiman 2015, Suleiman and Rimi 2016.

No.
Out of the 293 species, three subspecies and eight varieties of mosses in CRP, six are new to Borneo and 13 are new to Sabah (Table 3). Amongst the six species new to Borneo, four were found in the lowland areas between 70 m and 680 m a.s.l. Lowland areas in Borneo have not been given enough bryological attention, probably due to the misconception that the lowland rainforest has poor species richness of bryophytes. For instance, Chaetomitrium lancifolium, which was collected at 70 m a.s.l. in CRP, represents a second known record after its type collection from the Maluku Islands (see Appendix 1 for details).
Crocker Range Park ranks the second highest (cf. Table 4) in terms of number of mosses reported from mountainous areas in Borneo (Frahm et al. 1990, Suleiman and Edwards 2002, Suleiman and Akiyama 2004, Higuchi et al. 2008, Akiyama et al. 2001, Andi et al. 2015, Suleiman et al. 2011b. CRP recorded about 40% of the mosses reported from Borneo although the highest point in CRP is only 2,076 m a.s.l. This indicates that CRP has high species richness of mosses, second to that of Mount Kinabalu. Meanwhile, the number of mosses on Mount Trus Madi and Mount Lumaku were much lower, with 26% and 17%, respectively. Although Mount Trus Madi is much higher in terms of elevation, the number of mosses reported from the mountain was far lower than Table 3. New records of mosses to Borneo and Sabah.

No.
Moss species and variety New records Borneo Sabah 1.
Taxiphyllum taxirameum + + Total 6 13 from CRP. Mount Lumaku, on the other hand, has a similar height to the highest peak of CRP but its species richness is only about half that of CRP. Two of the contributing factors are that CRP receives a high annual rainfall and it has a relatively larger area of pristine primary lowland forests than Mount Trus Madi and Mount Lumaku. Nonetheless, a diversity study should be carried out to determine the true diversity of these areas.

Conclusion
CRP is a huge protected area and large parts of this park have not been surveyed during the present study. Thus, additional explorations in less accessible areas will definitely increase the number of mosses in this park and provide a better understanding of the distribution of species within the park. The large area of lowland forests in CRP is an asset to this protected area as it harbours important species of mosses and other plants. Large areas of lowland forest in other parts of Borneo have been cleared for agriculture and development, adding to the importance of conservation of this UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. This study identifies CRP as one of the hotspots of moss diversity in Borneo. Plants yellowish-red, forming lax tufts, 1.5 cm tall, matted with rhizoids at base. Leaves large, flaccid, spatulate, 2.0-2.7 mm × 0.5-0.7 mm; apex broad, rounded with an abruptly long piliform apiculus, arista 0.4-0.6 mm long, coloured; costa reddish, very strong at base, attenuate towards apex; margins revolute, plane 1/3 above, denticulate in apical region, strongly bordered throughout by 1-4 rows of elongated cells, strongly thick-walled, reddish, Mid lamina cells rhomboidal, 49-54 μm × 17-25 μm, thin-walled, rectangular towards leaf base. Sporophyte not seen.
This species has only been recorded from the Maluku Islands, its type locality. The distinguishing features of this species have been reported recently by Suleiman and