Bryum bharatiensis

In news- Polar biologists at Central University of Punjab have discovered a new native species of moss from continental Antarctica.

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The species is named Bryum bharatiensis as a tribute to the country and India’s Antarctic station, Bharati.
Felix Bast, associate professor and head of the department of Botany, Central University, who was part of Indian Antarctic Mission 2016-17 as an expedition scientist, discovered it on the rocks near Bharati station at Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica.
Studies confirmed it to be a new species of moss discovered for the first time in the world.
Though there have been a number of discoveries of bacterial species in Antarctica, this is the first time a plant species has been discovered in the four decades of the Indian Antarctic mission, which began in 1981.
India’s first Antarctic station, Dakshin Gangotri, was established in 1984 but was abandoned and decommissioned in 1990.
Maitri station was commissioned in 1989 while Bharati station in 2012, both are currently operational and year-round stations.
This is the sixth species discovery from the research group of Felix Bast, all the earlier five were new species of marine seaweeds from Indian coasts.
Though it is not known as how the moss survives under the thick snow during the six months of winter, it is likely that the moss “dries up to a dormant stage, almost to a seed” at this time, and germinates again during summer in September when the region gets sunlight again.