Buxbaumia viridis; Czech Republic; epixylic bryophyte; the ?Habitat directive?; threatened bryophyte

Rare epixylic moss Buxbaumia viridis, which is one of the ?Annex II? species of the European ?Habitat directive?, has been recorded at 124 localities in the Czech Republic in course of the last 13 years. Most of them were discovered in the last five years following a dedicated search at both historical sites of occurrence and new localities with putatively suitable habitat conditions. The recent and historical area of occupancy and extent of occurrence are not obviously different, although most of the recent localities are concentrated in the Western Carpathians and the Hrubý Jeseník Mts. Surprisingly, only 38% of the localities are located in natural forest habitats, of which herb-rich and acidophilous beech forests were among the most commonly inhabited ones.