Meniscium hostmannii (Klotzsch) R.S.Fern. & Salino, Phytotaxa

Smith, Alan R. & Kessler, Michael, 2017, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. XXX. Thelypteridaceae, Phytotaxa 331 (1), pp. 1-34 : 28

Meniscium hostmannii (Klotzsch) R.S.Fern. & Salino, Phytotaxa 184: 8. 2014 .

= Dryopteris hostmannii (Klotzsch) Maxon & C.V.Morton, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 65: 365, t. 14. 1938.

= Thelypteris hostmannii (Klotzsch) C.V.Morton, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 38: 59. 1967.

Range:— Colombia, Venezuela, Guianas, northern Brazil, Bolivia (CO, SC).

Ecology:— Uncommon, known from three Bolivian collections (Buchtien 2210, UC, US; Peña-Chocarro 94, NY not seen; Teran et al. 3800, MO not seen), cited by Fernandes et al. (2014) and Fernandes (2015); terrestrial in lowland forests, along streams or trails with partial sun exposure; 700– 800 m.

Notes: —Closely related to M. longifolium , differing primarily in the shorter costal and rachis hairs abaxially; Fernandes et al. (2016: 180, couplet 7) stated that these hairs in M. hostmannii are 2–3 mm long, when in fact they are 0.2–0.3 mm, shorter than the hairs in M. longifolium . Meniscium hostmannii lacks hairs on the laminar tissue between veins, and the latter has spreading hairs on laminar tissue between veins. The distributional gap in the range of this species, almost entirely from northern South America ( Fernandes et al. 2014, Fernandes 2015), seems puzzling, and calls into question the identity of the Bolivian collections. Buchtien 2210, part (UC 478107), from Cochabamba, appears to be M. lanceum , and Buchtien 2210, part (UC 478092), same locality, is a mixed collection, partly M. angustifolium and partly M. arborescens —neither gathering is M. hostmannii . Which collection Fernandes saw (but did not annotate) is unclear. For now, it seems dubious to us whether this species really occurs in Bolivia.