The fern genus Polybotrya (Dryopteridaceae) in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, with the description of a new species

Abstract

Polybotrya (Dryopteridaceae) is a genus of Neotropical endemic ferns that exhibits diverse growth forms and often plays important ecological roles in tropical forests. The genus is composed of about 35 species, yet the taxonomy of some groups of species in the genus is poorly understood. In this work we present the first detailed taxonomic treatment of Polybotrya in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We provide a key, descriptions, comments, conservation status, distribution maps, and illustrations for the ten species found in the Atlantic Forest. Seven species are endemic (P. cylindrica, P. espiritosantensis, P. matosii sp. nov., P. pilosa, P. semipinnata, P. speciosa and P. tomentosa) and three are widespread in Brazil or in the Neotropics (P. goyazensis, P. osmundacea and P. sorbifolia). A new species, Polybotrya matosii, is described, and the name P. tomentosa is reconsidered in this study. Lectotypes are also designated for P. incisa and P. semipinnata.

The predominant role of soil in determining species composition of fern communities in subtropical coastal forest ecosystems

“…According to Moran (1987), Polybotrya occurs preferably in shaded areas in mature forests, rarely growing in disturbed sites. In Brazil, P. cylindrica is mainly found inside mature Atlantic forest formations (Canestraro and Labiak 2015), being less common along trail margins (Hirai and Prado 2012) and in restinga (Nóbrega et al 2011;Gonzatti et al 2014).…”

Ferns of Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil: Didymochlaenaceae and Dryopteridaceae

“…Polybotrya is neotropical, consisting of 36 species (Moran 1987;Canestraro & Labiak 2015). In Brazil, there are 16 species, seven of which are endemic (Canestraro 2022).…”

“…The hairs on the abaxial laminar surfaces of P. speciosa are absent or shorter than 0.2 mm long, whereas those of P. tomentosa have 0.2-0.6 mm long, and those of P. pilosa 1-2.5 mm long. Polybotrya tomentosa further differs from P. speciosa by having these hairs also between the veins (vs. hairs restricted to veins and major axes in P. speciosa) (Moran 1987;Canestraro & Labiak 2015).…”

“…The first contributions to the knowledge of this family in the country were given by Raddi (1819), Presl (1822), Schrader (1824), Martius (1828Martius ( -1834, Fée (1869Fée ( , 1873, Baker (1870), and Christensen (1913Christensen ( , 1920. More recently, there were the contributions by Brade (1961Brade ( , 1972, Sundue et al (2013), Prado et al (2014), Canestraro & Labiak (2015), Engels & Canestraro (2017), Schwartsburd et al (2018), Bohn et al (2020), and -in addition to the monographs already mentioned in the previous paragraph and some regional floras (e.g., Brade 1946;Sehnem 1979;Salino & Carvalho 2005;Garcia & Salino 2008;Prado et al 2017). Garcia & Salino (2008) studied the species of Dryopteridaceae from Minas Gerais but adopted a different circumscription for the family (i.e., that of Moran & Riba 1995, which included Didymochlaena, but excluded Bolbitis, Ctenitis, Elaphoglossum, Lastreopsis, Megalastrum, Mickelia, and Parapolystichum).…”