A revised family-level classification for eupolypod II ferns (Polypodiidae: Polypodiales)
Abstract
We present a family-level classification for the eupolypod II clade of leptosporangiate
ferns, one of the two major lineages within the Eupolypods, and one of the few parts
of the fern tree of life where family-level relationships were not well understood
at the time of publication of the 2006 fern classification by Smith & al. Comprising
over 2500 species, the composition and particularly the relationships among the major
clades of this group have historically been contentious and defied phylogenetic resolution
until very recently. Our classification reflects the most current available data,
largely derived from published molecular phylogenetic studies. In comparison with
the five-family (Aspleniaceae, Blechnaceae, Onocleaceae, Thelypteridaceae, Woodsiaceae)
treatment of Smith & al., we recognize 10 families within the eupolypod II clade.
Of these, Aspleniaceae, Thelypteridaceae, Blechnaceae, and Onocleaceae have the same
composition as treated by Smith & al. Woodsiaceae, which Smith & al. acknowledged
as possibly non-monophyletic in their treatment, is circumscribed here to include
only Woodsia and its segregates; the other "woodsioid" taxa are divided among Athyriaceae,
Cystopteridaceae, Diplaziopsidaceae, Rhachidosoraceae, and Hemidictyaceae. We provide
circumscriptions for each family, which summarize their morphological, geographical,
and ecological characters, as well as a dichotomous key to the eupolypod II families.
Three of these families- Diplaziopsidaceae, Hemidictyaceae, and Rhachidosoraceae-were
described in the past year based on molecular phylogenetic analyses; we provide here
their first morphological treatment.
Type
Journal articleSubject
Science & TechnologyLife Sciences & Biomedicine
Plant Sciences
Evolutionary Biology
Athyriaceae
Diplaziopsis
ferns
Rhachidosorus
taxonomy
Woodsiaceae
JAPANESE DIPLAZIUM WOODSIACEAE
PHYLOGENETIC-RELATIONSHIPS
CHROMOSOME-NUMBERS
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY
CHLOROPLAST RBCL
GENE-SEQUENCES
PTERIDOPHYTA
ASPLENIACEAE
DRYOPTERIDACEAE
ATHYRIACEAE
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21791Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1002/tax.613003Publication Info
Rothfels, CJ; Sundue, MA; Kuo, L; Larsson, A; Kato, M; Schuettpelz, E; & Pryer, KM (2012). A revised family-level classification for eupolypod II ferns (Polypodiidae: Polypodiales).
Taxon, 61(3). pp. 515-533. 10.1002/tax.613003. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21791.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Kathleen M. Pryer
Professor of Biology

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