Thylacopteris minuta (Polypodiaceae), a new fern species from Myanmar

The genus Thylacopteris is a small, phylogenetically isolated genus belonging to the fern family Polypodiaceae. This study describes a new species, Thylacopteris minuta, based on collections obtained during field surveys of Shan State, Myanmar. This new species is distinct from other species of Thylacopteris in its small size and presence of sclerenchyma strands in the rhizome. This species is also distinct from the only other species of Thylacopteris with molecular data available, T. papillosa, in a plastid rbcL phylogeny of Polypodiaceae. This new discovery of Thylacopteris from Myanmar suggests that this genus is still overlooked in Southeast Asia.

Automated summary

This study describes a new species of Thylacopteris, called Thylacopteris minuta, discovered in Shan State, Myanmar. Compared to other Thylacopteris species, this new species is small in size and has sclerenchyma strands in the rhizome. It also differs from the only other Thylacopteris species with molecular data available, T. papillosa, in the plastid rbcL phylogeny of the Polypodiaceae family. This discovery suggests that the Thylacopteris genus is being overlooked in Southeast Asia.