Distribution

Tortula ruralis is a cosmopolitan species found in arctic, boreal,
temperate, and desert regions. It is distributed throughout Canada,
much of the United States, Mexico, and the Pacific islands
[16,24,29,40]. It apparently is more common in western North America
than in the eastern provinces and states [18,24]. The author has been
unable to determine if T. ruralis occurs in the southeastern United
States.

Tortula ruralis is widespread in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North
and South Africa, South America, and Australia [10,16,24].