Arief Hidayat

Monachosorum arakii Tagawa (Dennstaedtiaceae) is a Relict “International” Hybrid: A Reassessment of the Monachosorum Species

Abstract Monachosorum arakii Tagawa is a plant species endemic to the western part of the main island of Japan. It is characterized by large bulbils on the rachises and is a close relative of M. henryi Christ, which can be found in the Sino-Himalayan region and is not present in Japan. Although M. arakii was reported to be a hexaploid, we determined that it is a pentaploid based on chromosome counts. All of the herbarium specimens examined, including the holotype, had irregularly shaped spores, suggesting that this is a sterile hybrid species. Analysis of the nuclear gapCp sequences also supported its hybrid origin from M. henryi (tetraploid) and M. nipponicum Makino (hexaploid). It should be noted that the parental species of M. arakii, which are endemic to Japan, only co-occur in China. It is possible that the hybrids are relicts from the time when M. henryi were also present in Japan, and are now reproducing only vegetatively by rhizome division and bulbil production. The updated taxonomic treatments for Monachosorum species provided in the current study recognize four species and two hybrid taxa.

Taxonomic and Ecological Notes on the Alsophila hornei Complex (Cyatheaceae-Polypodiopsida), with the Description of the New Species A. phlebodes from New Guinea

Abstract The morphologically variable tree fern Alsophila hornei of the Gymnosphaera clade is taxonomically and ecologically evaluated. While there is only one morphospecies present at the type locality on Fiji, three species can be characterized along an elevational transect on New Guinea. Alsophila hornei is also present at low elevations throughout New Guinea. Alsophila phlebodes is newly described and so far only found at high elevations on the Vogelkop Peninsula of New Guinea. Among its sympatric congeners, it stands out by having relatively pale brown petiole scales and well-developed, highly dissected remote basal pinnae on the petioles that form a wig-like structure around the trunk apex. Alsophila olivacea is reinstated and separated from A. hornei and A. phlebodes mainly by lacking adventitious pinnae and having an intermediate elevational distribution in the mountains of New Guinea. A key to the Australasian species of the Gymnophaera clade is provided in order to facilitate taxonomic studies of this biogeographically and phylogenetically interesting group.

Validation of a New Combination in the Genus Alsophila (Cyatheaceae-Polypodiopsida)

Marcus Lehnert, Fulgent P. Coritico, Dedy Darnaedi, Arief Hidayat, Jürgen Kluge, Dirk Nikolaus Karger, and Michael Kessler Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Abt. Botanik, Am Löwentor, Rosenstein 1, D-70191 Stuttgart, Germany. Nees-Institut für Biodiversität der Pflanzen, Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 170, D-53115 Bonn, Germany. Central Mindanao University, Musuan, Bukidnon 8710, Philippines. Research Center for Biology-LIPI, Botany Department, Cibinong Science Center (CSC), Jl. Raya Jakarta-Bogor Km 46, Cibinong 16911, Bogor, Indonesia. Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, CH-8008 Zurich, Switzerland. Author for correspondence (mlehnert@uni-bonn.de)