Tectariaceae are a pantropical fern family of about 20 genera, among which 8 are distributed in China. The morphological distinctiveness of the family is widely recognized, yet relatively little systematic research has been conducted on members of Tectariaceae. Phylogenetic analyses of chloroplast DNA sequence data (rbcL; atpB) from 15 species representing all 8 genera in China were carried out under parsimony criteria; Bayesian inference. The phylogenetic reconstructions indicated that the fern family Tectariaceae as traditionally circumscribed are polyphyletic. Ctenitis, Dryopsis, Lastreopsis clustered with; should be included within the newly-defined Dryopteridaceae,; Pleocnemia is also tentatively assigned to it. A narrowly monophyletic Tectariaceae is identified, which includes Ctenitopsis, Hemigramma, Pteridrys, Quercifilix,; Tectaria. In the single rbcL analysis, Arthropteris clustered with the above-mentioned monophyletic Tectariaceae. Although further investigations are still needed to identify infrafamilial relationships within the monophyletic Tectariaceae; to redefine several problematic genera, we propose a working concept here that better reflects the inferred evolutionary history of this group.
LIU HongMei1,2, ZHANG XianChun1, CHEN ZhiDuan1, DONG ShiYong3 & QIU YinLong4 1 State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China
