Ruppia megacarpa is a submerged herb species in the genus Ruppia found in shallow brackish waters. It is a common on Australasian coasts, including Australia (NSW; SA; Vic; WA and New Zealand (type locality).Jacobs, S.W.L. and M.A. Brock (1982) A revision of the genus Ruppia (Potamogetonaceae) in Australia. Aquatic Botany 14: 325–337 Isolated populations have been currently found in East Asia, including Japan, Korea, and Far East Russia,Ito, Y., T. Ohi-Toma, J. Murata, and Nr. Tanaka (2010) Hybridization and polyploidy of an aquatic plant, Ruppia (Ruppiaceae), inferred from plastid and nuclear DNA phylogenies. American Journal of Botany 97: 1156–1167Ito, Y., T. Ohi-Toma, A. V. Skriptsova, M. Sasagawa, Nr. Tanaka, and J. Murata (2014) Ruppia megacarpa (Ruppiaceae): a new species to the floras of Japan, Korea, and Russia. Botanica Pacofica 3: 49–52 hence, the species distribution exhibit latitudinally disjunct (antitropical) distribution between East Asia and Australasia.
Ecology This species is known to have hybridized with 'Occidentalis' of the R. maritima complex in Hokkaido, Japan.
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