Lellingeria is a genus of ferns in the family Polypodiaceae, subfamily Grammitidoideae, according to the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I).
About 50–70 species of Lellingeria are known.Barbara S. Parris. 2009. "New genera of Malesian Grammitidaceae". Blumea 54(1-3):217-219. They are native to tropical areas of Madagascar, Africa, the Americas, and Pacific Islands. None are known in cultivation. Lellingeria was named for the American pteridologist David Lellinger.Alan R. Smith, Robbin C. Moran, and L. Earl Bishop. 1991. "Lellingeria, a new genus of Grammitidaceae". American Fern Journal 81(3):76-88.
Description Mostly epiphytes. Rhizome radially symmetrical or dorsiventral, with clathrate, usually blackish scales that are attached across their entire base. Petiole absent or much shorter than the lamina. Sterile portion of frond shallowly to deeply pinnately divided. Fertile portion entire to deeply pinnately divided. (A few species with fronds pinnate-pinnatifid). Veins simple, free (not anastomosing). Hydathodes present. Sori round or elliptic, often slightly sunken, without paraphyses.
Taxonomy The genus Lellingeria was erected in 1991. At that time, it consisted of 52 species, three newly described, and 49 transferred from the artificial (unnatural) genus Grammitis. In 2004, a phylogenetic study of DNA sequences of two chloroplast genes showed that Lellingeria, as defined in 1991, was polyphyletic.Tom A. Ranker, Alan R. Smith, Barbara S. Parris, Jennifer M.O. Geiger, Christopher H. Haufler, Shannon C.K. Straub, and Harald Schneider. 2004. "Phylogeny and evolution of grammitid ferns (Grammitidaceae): a case of rampant morphological homoplasy". Taxon 53(2):415-428. This was confirmed six years later. In 2010, four species were removed from Lellingeria and combined with one species from the defunct genus Xiphopteris to form the new genus Leucotrichum.Paulo H. Labiak, Germinal Rouhan, and Michael A. Sundue. 2010. "Phylogeny and taxonomy of Leucotrichum (Polypodiaceae): A new genus of grammitid ferns from the Neotropics". Taxon 59(3):911-921. The remaining species of Lellingeria form a monophyletic genus that is sister to the genus Melpomene.
When Lellingeria was established in 1991, thirty-five of its species were assigned to four species groups. This infra-generic classification did not hold up, because one of these groups had to be separated as Leucotrichum, and because another two of these groups were not truly distinct, but intermixed. Lellingeria, as currently circumscribed consists of two groups, one with about 20 species, and another with about 50. The smaller group is easily distinguished by morphological characters, but the larger group is more diverse. These two groups have not been formally named as subgenera or sections within Lellingeria.
Lellingeria can be distinguished from Melpomene by the lack of setae, the presence of hairs on the rhizome, the sparse covering of very short hair on the upper surface of the rachis or midrib, and by the sori, which are slightly sunken into the lamina.
When Lellingeria was first described in 1991, it was thought to always have a radially symmetrical rhizome, but it has since been learned that some of the species that belong in Lellingeria have a dorsiventral rhizome. The unequally forked hairs are almost always present, but they are not a synapomorphy for Lellingeria.
Species , the Checklist of Ferns and Lycophytes of the World accepted the following fifty-two species:
Lellingeria affinis Labiak Lellingeria amplisora Labiak Lellingeria antillensis (Proctor) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria apiculata (Kunze ex Klotzsch) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria barbensis (Lellinger) A.R.Sm. er R.C.Moran Lellingeria bishopii Labiak Lellingeria brasiliensis (Rosenst.) Labiak Lellingeria brenesii A.Rojas Lellingeria brevistipes (Mett. ex Kuhn) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria calolepis Labiak Lellingeria cantarensis B.K.Black & Sundue Lellingeria ciliolepis (C.Chr.) A.R.Sm. Lellingeria depressa (C.Chr.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria dissimulans (Maxon) A.R.Sm. Lellingeria epiphytica (Copel.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria flagellipinnata M.Kessler & A.R.Sm. Lellingeria flexibilis Labiak Lellingeria hombersleyi (Maxon) A.R.Sm. Lellingeria humilis (Mett.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria isidrensis (Maxon ex Copel.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria itatimensis (C.Chr.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria jimenezii Labiak Lellingeria kaieteura (Jenman) Labiak Lellingeria labiakii Sundue Lellingeria laxifolia A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria longeattenuata D.M.Forero & J.Murillo Lellingeria longifolia Labiak Lellingeria major (Copel.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria melanotrichia (Baker) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria micula (Lellinger) Labiak Lellingeria militaris (Maxon) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria moranii Labiak Lellingeria oreophila (Maxon) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria paramicola Labiak Lellingeria pendula (Sw.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria pendulina A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria phlegmaria (J.Sm.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria pinnata A.Rojas Lellingeria pseudocapillaris (Rosenst.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria pseudotenuicula Labiak Lellingeria simacensis (Rosenst.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria sinuosa (A.R.Sm.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria smithii Labiak Lellingeria subimpressa (Copel.) Labiak Lellingeria subsessilis (Baker) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria suprasculpta (Christ) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria suspensa (L.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria tamandarei (Rosenst.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria tenuicula (Fée) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria tmesipteris (Copel.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria tunguraguae (Rosenst.) A.R.Sm. & R.C.Moran Lellingeria vargasiana A.Rojas
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