Draconopteris draconoptera (D.C.Eaton) Li Bing Zhang & Liang Zhang

Kessler, Michael & Smith, Alan R., 2018, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. XXXVIII. Tectariaceae, Phytotaxa 334 (3), pp. 248-254 : 249

Draconopteris draconoptera (D.C.Eaton) Li Bing Zhang & Liang Zhang , Taxon 65(4): 732. 2016.

= Tectaria draconoptera (D.C.Eaton) Copel., Philipp. J. Sci. 2 C: 410. 1907.

Range: — Nicaragua to Panama, Colombia to Bolivia (CO, LP) and western Brazil.

Ecology: —Rare; terrestrial in humid forests; 550–17000 m.

Notes: —This genus and species are mired in a taxonomic and nomenclatural conundrum. The type of Aspidium draconopterum (and hence the type of Draconopteris ), from Colombia, is in fact a Hypoderris , a fact not realized when Draconopteris was described. The two specimens sequenced by Zhang et al. (2016), and the basis for naming the genus Draconopteris as separate from both Hypoderris and Tectaria , are now believed to be referable to the species heretofore called Tectaria myriosora (Christ) C.Chr. , usually treated as a synonym of Tectaria draconoptera (D.C.Eaton) Copel. by recent authorities (e.g., Moran 1995). The upshot of this is that Draconopteris is a later synonym of Hypoderris , and “ Draconopteris ”, sensu Zhang et al. (2016) has no name. The species epithet “ draconoptera ” no longer applies to the intended taxon, which would take (under some new generic name) the epithet “ myriosorum ”, based on Aspidium myriosorum Christ , a heterotypic synonym of “ Draconopteris draconoptera .” Aspidium draconopterum D.C.Eaton (1860) has priority over Polypodium nicotianifolium Baker (1868) , so Hypoderris nicotianifolia would become H. draconoptera (D.C.Eaton) comb. ined. To remedy this nomenclatural “musical chairs” and avoid ensuing taxonomic confusion, Draconopteris must be conserved with a different type, a solution currently being investigated by C. Rothfels et al. (2018).