Leptopteris Explained

The Leptopteris is a small genus of ferns native to the New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. They are similar to ferns in the related genus Todea, and were originally included in that genus. However, the very thin fronds of Leptopteris differ from the thick leathery fronds of Todea, and the genera are considered distinct.^[1] A probable extinct species, Leptopteris estipularis is known from the Early Cretaceous of India.^[2]

Species

There are seven living species and one naturally-occurring interspecific hybrid.^[3]

• Leptopteris alpina (Baker) C.Chr. – New Guinea and Seram
• †Leptopteris estipularis (Sharma, Bohra & Singh) Bomfleur, Grimm & McLoughlin
• Leptopteris fraseri – eastern New South Wales and northeastern Queensland
• Leptopteris hymenophylloides – New Zealand and the Chatham Islands
• Leptopteris × intermedia (B.S.Williams ex T.Moore) Gower (L. hymenophylloides × L. superba) – New Zealand
• Leptopteris laxa Copeland – Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands
• †Leptopteris minuta Romanovskaja
• Leptopteris moorei (Baker) Christ – Lord Howe Island
• Leptopteris superba – New Zealand
• Leptopteris wilkesiana – Fiji, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Samoan Islands, and Vanuatu

Phylogeny

Phylogeny of Leptopteris^{[4] [5]}

Notes and References

1. PPG I . 2016 . A community-derived classification for extant lycophytes and ferns . Journal of Systematics and Evolution . 54 . 6. 563–603 . 10.1111/jse.12229 . 39980610 . free .
2. Bomfleur. Benjamin. Grimm. Guido W.. McLoughlin. Stephen. 2017-07-11. The fossil Osmundales (Royal Ferns)—a phylogenetic network analysis, revised taxonomy, and evolutionary classification of anatomically preserved trunks and rhizomes. PeerJ. en. 5. e3433. 10.7717/peerj.3433. 28713650. 5508817. 2167-8359 . free .
3. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:17133720-1 Leptopteris C.Presl
4. Nitta . Joel H. . Schuettpelz . Eric . Ramírez-Barahona . Santiago . Iwasaki . Wataru . et al. . 2022 . An Open and Continuously Updated Fern Tree of Life . Frontiers in Plant Science . 13 . 909768. 10.3389/fpls.2022.909768 . 36092417. 9449725. free.
5. Web site: et al. . 2023 . Tree viewer: interactive visualization of FTOL . FTOL v1.5.0 [GenBank release 256] . 17 August 2023.