KEW BULLETIN VOL. 64: 175–178 (2009)
Hymenophyllum filmenofilicum (Hymenophyllaceae, Pteridophyta): a new epipetric filmy fern from Paraná, southern Brazil Maarten J. M. Christenhusz1, Pedro Bond Schwartsburd2 & Paulo H. Labiak3
Summary. Field work in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil, has resulted in the discovery of a new epipetric filmy fern, Hymenophyllum filmenofilicum Christenh. & Schwartsb. (Hymenophyllaceae), which is described and illustrated here. Key Words. Araucaria forest, Brazil, Hymenophyllaceae, Hymenophyllum filmenofilicum, new species, Paraná,
sandstone cliffs, taxonomy.
Introduction The sandstone formations of the South Brazilian Devonian Steep (Fig. 1) is home to a rich fern flora, especially constituting a wide diversity of epipetric Hymenophyllaceae (Schwartsburd & Labiak 2007). These moist forests dominated by Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) O. Kuntze, have a patchy distribution and are restricted to southern and south-eastern Brazil. In these isolated forest patches, various narrow endemics occur and it is, therefore, not surprising that some of these plants are still undescribed. In this article we report a new filmy fern of the genus Hymenophyllum from this area. Hymenophyllum (including the previously segregated genera Cardiomanes, Hymenoglossum, Serpyllopsis, and Rosenstockia; following Hennequin et al. 2003) is a relatively large and diverse genus consisting of approximately 200 species. The genus can be found in the more humid areas of the tropics and subtropics, with a few species extending into temperate latitudes. It has its greatest diversity in the cool and humid areas of the tropics, especially in cloud forests and elfin woodlands. Within the Hymenophyllaceae, the genus Hymenophyllum forms a sister clade to the genus Trichomanes s.l. (also about 200 species), which was segregated by Ebihara et al. (2006) into eight genera (Abrodictyum,
Callistopteris, Cephalomanes, Crepidomanes, Didymoglossum, Polyphlebium, Trichomanes s.s., and Vandenboschia). Within the genus Hymenophyllum our new species belongs to subgen. Sphaerocionium (C. Presl) C. Chr. following the classification of Morton (1968) and Ebihara et al. (2006). Hennequin et al. (2003) found some support for this subgenus based on chloroplast coding and non-coding regions. Hymenophyllum filmenofilicum Christenh. & Schwartsb. sp. nov. Filices rupicolae; rhizomata repentia, filiformia; folia parva, breviter petiolata, 1 – 3.5 (– 5) cm longa et 0.4 – 1.5 cm lata; laminae pinnati-pinnatisectae; segmenta linearia, dichotoma, sessilia; rachides laminaeque ad marginem pilosae; pili marginales variabiles stellatesve, bifurcates ternatesve. Typus: Brazil, Paraná, Ponta Grossa, Furnas Gêmeas, remnant Araucaria forest below large sandstone cliff, 25.145°S, 049.958°W, 950 – 1000 m, 16 Feb. 2008, Christenhusz, Schwartsburd, Lehtonen & Castilho 4790 (holotypus SP!; isotypi K!, MBM!, NY!, P!, TI!, TUR!, UC!, UPCB!). Minute epipetric fern, creating a moss-like cover on sandstone rocks; rhizomes creeping, filiform, little branched, about 0.15 – 0.25 mm in diam., moderately hairy, the hairs simple, jointed, 3 – 4-celled, 0.3 – 0.6 mm
Accepted for publication October 2008. 1 Department of Botany, The Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom, e-mail:
[email protected] 2 Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. e-mail: petrofi
[email protected] 3 Departamento de Botânica, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil. e-mail:
[email protected]
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Fig. 1. Type locality of Hymenophyllum filmenofilicum, the Devonian sandstone formations in Paraná, Southern Brazil. BY MAARTEN CHRISTENHUSZ.
long; fronds transparent, 1 – 3.5 (– 5) cm long, 0.4 – 1.5 cm wide, determinate, the larger ones somewhat pendent; stipes short, 1 – 7 mm long, filiform, about 2 mm in diam., not winged, hairy at base, moderately hairy throughout, the jointed hairs simple or onceforked, 2 – 3-celled, 0.3 – 1.3 mm long; blades deltoidelongate to ovate-lanceolate, 1 – 3 cm long and up to 1.5 cm wide, usually pinnate-pinnatifid at base, with one or two pairs of dichotomously incised pinnae, the rachis normally not winged or minutely winged in the basal part of the blade, winged towards the apex; pinnae 5 – 7 pairs, the upper ones adnate to the rachis, the basal pair mostly sessile and free, sometimes minutely stalked, dichotomous or sub-flabellate, pinnatifid or twice pinnatifid, 3 – 7 mm long and 3 – 9 mm broad, ultimate segments bifid, 1 – 1.2 mm broad, the lobes with a single vein; rachides sparsely hairy, mostly tristellate or single and basally paired; lamina margins entire, fringed with abundant multicellular, stellate or simple, basally paired
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PHOTOGRAPH
or ternate, 0.4 – 1.1 mm long hairs; veins and lamina tissue glabrous; sori numerous, terminating pinna lobes in the apical part of the blade, bivalved, indusia scarcely immersed at base, as broad as, or slightly wider than, the ultimate segments, valves 0.8 – 1.1 × 0.8 – 1.1 mm, conspicuously hairy, hairs similar to those on the margin. Figs. 2 & 3. DISTRIBUTION. Central plateau of Paraná, Brazil, in the
surroundings of Vila Velha. ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS EXAMINED. BRAZIL. Paraná:
Ponta Grossa, Parque Estadual de Vila Velha, 16 May 2005, P. B. Schwartsburd & M. Nogueira Jr. 786 (UPCB); idem, 19 Oct. 2005, P. B. Schwartsburd, P. Labiak & A. R. Smith 923 (MBM, UPCB). HABITAT. Hymenophyllum filmenofilicum grows on shaded sandstone cliffs in forest dominated by Araucaria angustifolia; 900 – 1000 m. (Fig. 1). On the same cliff at the type locality, it is accompanied by other
HYMENOPHYLLUM FILMENOFILICUM (HYMENOPHYLLACEAE, PTERIDOPHYTA)
Fig. 2. Living specimens of Hymenophyllum filmenofilicum.
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PHOTOGRAPH BY MAARTEN CHRISTENHUSZ.
epipetric ferns, such as Marattia laevis Sm., Asplenium incurvatum Fée and Hymenophyllum rufum Fée (eg. Christenhusz 4784 through to 4793). CONSERVATION STATUS. Vulnerable (or perhaps lower risk) (IUCN 2001). The new species is known from 3 localities on steep sandstone cliffs in Araucaria forest. This is a highly fragmented vegetation endangered by logging, but the cliffsides are normally not disturbed and the plants occur in abundance. ETYMOLOGY. ‘Filmene’ (Old Frisian) for skin, the origin of the English word ‘film’, and ‘Filix’ (Latin) for fern. NOTES. Hymenophyllum filmenofilicum resembles H. sampaioanum A. C. Brade & Rosenst. in their small frond size, but they differ in the type of hairs on the margins of the blades. These are simple and unbranched in H. sampaioanum, vs. basally paired, ternate or stellate in H. filmenofilicum.
Hymenophyllum elegans Spreng. (incl. f. minor C. V. Morton) is also similar, but this species differs from H. filmenofilicum in the complete absence of hairs on the veins. Another somewhat similar species, H. crispum Kunth (incl. var. brasilianum Fée), has much larger fronds with crispate-undulate margins.
Acknowledgements We thank Marcus Castilho, Ana Carolina Hatschbach Cardon, Samuli Lehtonen, and Miodelli Nogueira Jr. for assisting in the field, CAPES and CNPq for providing the scholarship to the second author, Dr William Rodrigues for correcting the Latin diagnosis, and Dr Jefferson Prado and Dr Hanna Tuomisto who provided the first author with the opportunity to carry out field work in Brazil.
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Fig. 3. Hymenophyllum filmenofilicum, A – E habit; F detail. All from Christenhusz et al. 4790 (TUR). DRAWN BY MAARTEN CHRISTENHUSZ.
References Ebihara, A., Dubuisson, J.-Y., Iwatsuki, K., Hennequin, S. & Ito, M. (2006). A Taxonomic Revision of Hymenophyllaceae. Blumea 51: 221 – 280. Hennequin, S., Ebihara, A, Ito, M., Iwatsuki, K & Dubuisson J.-Y. (2003). Molecular systematics of the fern genus Hymenophyllum s.l. (Hymenophyllaceae) based on chloroplastic coding and noncoding regions. Molec. Phylogenet. Evol. 27: 283 – 301.
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IUCN (2001). IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1. IUCN Species Survival Commission. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. Morton, C. V. (1968). The genera, subgenera, and sections of the Hymenophyllaceae. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 38: 153 – 214. Schwartsburd, P. B. & Labiak, P. H. (2007). Pteridófitas do Parque Estadual de Vila Velha, Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brasil. Hoehnea 34: 159 – 209.
