科研之友
微信
新浪微博
Facebook
分享链接
摘要
The Fijian island of Taveuni has large areas of remaining forest that are less altered than those on neighbouring islands. It is also free of the introduced mongoose, leaving its ecosystems more intact. It is noted for biodiversity and is a target for conservationists, but, as in other parts of Fiji, pteridophytes are under-documented there. To address this, we visited Taveuni to collect pteridophytes in November 2016, and here list 19 species we found that have not previously been mentioned in literature as occurring on the island. Ten of these are considered uncommon or rare elsewhere in Fiji, including three that are Fijian endemics known from only one or two other islands. We also list two more taxa new to Taveuni based on earlier collections at the University of California herbarium (UC). We revise the identification of four additional species on Taveuni that were mis-identified, or identified only to genus. We describe one of these as a new taxon, Chingia fijiensis (Thelypteridaceae). This has been previously reported as Chingia longissima (Brack.) Holttum or, alternatively, as Chingia sp. 1 aff. imponens (Ces.) Holttum, and occurs on Taveuni and Viti Levu. We find that it most closely resembles Chingia ferox (Blume) Holttum, which occurs throughout Malesia extending east to New Guinea. Based on images, we identify a specimen from Vanuatu as C. fijiensis, extending the range of our new species to that country. We review previous studies of pteridophytes on Taveuni and conclude that the rugged, densely forested terrain may have limited the efforts of earlier collectors. We estimate that just over half the known Fijian species are now reported for the island. Many taxa that we might expect have not yet been documented there, and we propose that further pteridophyte exploration on Taveuni is warranted.
- 出版日期2018
