Two new species in the fern genus Lomariopsis (Lomariopsidaceae) from East Asia

PhytoKeys. 2021 Dec 20:187:161-176. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.187.77035. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Two East Asian Lomariopsis (Lomariopsidaceae, Polypodiales) species, Lomariopsismoorei and Lomariopsislongini, which were previously misidentified as L.spectabilis, are here described as new species based on evidence from morphological characters and a molecular phylogeny. The two species differ from the three other described species in East Asia by their venation, pinna shapes, and perine morphology. A phylogeny based on a combined dataset of three chloroplast regions (rbcL+ rps4-trnS + trnL-L-F) showed that L.moorei and L.longini each formed a well-supported monophyletic group which was distantly related to both L.spectabilis and the other morphologically similar East Asian species, L.boninensis.

Keywords: Cryptic species; Lomariopsisboninensis; Lomariopsislongini; Lomariopsismoorei; Lomariopsisspectabilis; independent gametophyte; phylogeny; systematics.