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Forum for Epiphytic Myrmecophytes

New world database for fern's taxonomy


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Dear all,

 

Following the recurrent discussion for the name of some plants (ie Solanopteris or Microgramma, Lecanopteris or Myrmecopteris, Myrmecophila, etc.), I would like to share with you this new database.

 

At Nancy Botanical Garden, we have to follow the actual nomenclature. For most angiosperms we have the really good reference of Kew (http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/), but for ferns, for example, we don't have access to a serious reference till today.

 

However, a team of german botanist just publish a wonderfull and accurate database, simply called " Checklist of Ferns and Lycophyte of the World".

 

https://worldplants.webarchiv.kit.edu/ferns/

 

I recommand greatly this database to everybody: I follow it personnally since the begining of the year (the base is online since january), and it's really intuitive, easy to use, and all bibliography are cited. The different works followed by CFLW are also really recent.

 

Here we can see for example that genus Lecanopteris is still valid, which genus comprise actually 13 species from Malesia.

 

L. mirabilis, another example, is valid, the repartition is noted (Moluccas (Seram, Ambon), New Guinea, Sulawesi), and we could also see that Myrmecophila mirabilis and Myrmecopteris mirabilis are synonymous...

 

Last example, the genus Solanopteris include 4 species, all of them included in the genus Microgramma!

 

As I say frequently, we can call a plant as we want, but we need to cite our sources... And if the source in question is reliable, it's always better!

 

All the best,

Aurélien

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  • 3 weeks later...

I suspect that the use of the database of Lecanopteris lomarioides is incorrect because it is based on a naked name.  L. sarcosa as used by Gay et al. is probably correct.

 

The more I search through the nomenclature of epiphytic ant plants the more inconsistencies and errors I find.  Also, the way synonyms are recorded seems to be unnecessarily convoluted.  Surely, it would be clearer to have two lists, one (hopefully much shorter) that provides the essential steps (plant name changes) that led to the present accepted name and a second list for those (often far too many) plant names that merely sidetrack (some of these show a lack of research into the admittedly labyrinthine mess that is historic nomenclature) a linear progression to the current 'correct' name.  These 'sidetrack' names have some uses such as permitting name corrections (updates) when reading older manuscripts or correcting outdated plant labels but they have little value in helping to track a correct modern name.

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Error? Note, Ferns of Malaya or Flora of Malaya, also revised or not, and probable date discrepancies.

Phymatodes Crustacea (sic.) (Copeland) Richard Eric Holttum, Ferns of Malaya, 190, (1955.) According to Gay et al. (1994.)

Or Phymatodes crustacea (Copel.) Holtt. [Revised Flora Mal. 2, 190, (1955.) according to https://worldplants.webarchiv.kit.edu/ferns/

Or Phymatodes crustacea (Copeland) Richard Eric Holttum published in Revised Flora of Malaysia 2, 190, (1993.) according to http://www.tropicos.org/Name/50250490.

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Hi Derrick,

 

Thanks for your review.

 

I think, if you have mistakes to report, don't hesit to email Michael Hassler, who is really kind and receptive. As Rafaël Govaerts, who is the compiler of the Kew Database, Michael is happy to have remarks, which could help him to complete or correct th database.

 

hassler.michael@t-online.de

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Thank you Aurelien. The contact 'button" on the fern database does not work, at least for me, so I had no way of checking with the compilers.  I will now do so and will report back, especially if it is a situation of not knowing what I did not know.  The more I learn, the more I find that I do not know.

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