Phylogeny and Character Evolution of the Bolbitidoid Ferns (Dryopteridaceae)

We performed a phylogenetic analysis of the traditionally recognized genera of bolbitidoid ferns (i.e., Arthrobotrya, Bolbitis, Elaphoglossum, Lomagramma, and Teratophyllum) using two noncoding chloroplast spacers: trnL‐trnF and rps4‐trnS. The sampling included 57 species, of which 55 had not been sequenced previously. The results supported the monophyly of bolbitidoid ferns and of Arthrobotrya, Elaphoglossum, Lomagramma, and Teratophyllum; however, Bolbitis was resolved as polyphyletic. A clade of eight Neotropical species currently placed in Bolbitis is sister to Elaphoglossum, not the other species of Bolbitis. We refer to this group of species as the Bolbitis nicotianifolia clade. Lomagramma (or Bolbitis) guianensis, whose generic placement has been uncertain, was found to belong to the B. nicotianifolia clade. Bolbitis s.s. was resolved sister to the rest of the bolbitidoid ferns, which are in turn divided into two clades, one consisting of Elaphoglossum and the B. nicotianifolia clade and the other of Lomagramma, Teratophyllum, and Arthrobotrya. We optimized 34 morphological characters on the resulting phylogenetic tree. The characters found to be synapomorphic for bolbitidoid ferns were ventral root insertion, elongated ventral meristeles, sterile‐fertile leaf dimorphism, acrostichoid sori, and the absence of hairs on the leaves. Other characters, such as articulate pinnae, venation patterns, laminar buds, paraphyses, and growth habit, are discussed in relation to the clades they support at different nodes on the tree. The bolbitidoid ferns show a transition series from terrestrial (Bolbitis) to hemiepiphytic (the B. nicotianifolia clade, Arthrobotrya, Lomagramma, and Teratophyllum) to epiphytic (Elaphoglossum). A sister‐species relationship between the Neotropical Bolbitis serratifolia and the African Bolbitis acrostichoides was recovered, supporting their relationship as previously postulated on the basis of morphology.