Hypodematiaceae
Encyclopedia
Hypodematiaceae is a family
of fern
s in the order
Polypodiales
. It consists of two, or possibly three, small genera
. Hypodematium and Leucostegia are always included, and Didymochlaena might best be placed in this family as well.
Hypodematiaceae was erected by Ren-Chang Ching in 1975, but was not subsequently accepted by many authors. It was not accepted in a classification
of ferns that was published in 2006. In that paper, the genera Hypodematium, Leucostegia, and Didymochlaena were provisionally assigned to Dryopteridaceae
, with the authors expressing some doubt about whether they really belonged there. In two molecular phylogenetic studies
published in 2007, the clade
that is tentatively called eupolypods I was resolved as a tritomy
consisting of Didymochlaena, Hypodematiaceae sensu stricto, and the rest of eupolypods I.
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
of fern
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
s in the order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
Polypodiales
Polypodiales
The order Polypodiales encompasses the major lineages of polypod ferns, which comprise more than 80% of today's fern species. They are found in many parts of the world including tropical, semitropical and temperate areas...
. It consists of two, or possibly three, small genera
Genera
Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...
. Hypodematium and Leucostegia are always included, and Didymochlaena might best be placed in this family as well.
Hypodematiaceae was erected by Ren-Chang Ching in 1975, but was not subsequently accepted by many authors. It was not accepted in a classification
Biological classification
Biological classification, or scientific classification in biology, is a method to group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is part of scientific taxonomy....
of ferns that was published in 2006. In that paper, the genera Hypodematium, Leucostegia, and Didymochlaena were provisionally assigned to Dryopteridaceae
Dryopteridaceae
Dryopteridaceae, is a family of leptosporangiate ferns in the order Polypodiales. They are known colloquially as the wood ferns. They comprise about 1700 species and have a cosmopolitan distribution. They may be terrestrial, epipetric, hemiepiphytic, or epiphytic. Many are cultivated as...
, with the authors expressing some doubt about whether they really belonged there. In two molecular phylogenetic studies
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
published in 2007, the clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
that is tentatively called eupolypods I was resolved as a tritomy
Polytomy
A polytomy , meaning many temporal based branches, is a section of a phylogeny in which the evolutionary relationships can not be fully resolved to dichotomies. In a phylogenetic tree, a polytomy is represented as a node which has more than two immediate descending branches...
consisting of Didymochlaena, Hypodematiaceae sensu stricto, and the rest of eupolypods I.