Ran Wei

Institute of Botany CAS · State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany

The contrasting genome size between homosporous and heterosporous plants is fascinating. Different from the heterosporous seed plants and mainly homosporous ferns, the lycophytes are either heterosporous (Isoetales and Selaginellales) or homosporous (Lycopodiales). Many lycophytes are the resource plants of Huperzine A (HupA) which is invaluable fo...

Lycophytes and euphyllophytes (ferns and seed plants) are the two surviving lineages of vascular plants. The modern lycophytes (clubmosses) are herbaceous found either heterosporous (Isoetales and Selaginellales) or homosporous (Lycopodiales). The contrasting genome size between homosporous and heterosporous plants has long been an attractive topic...

Lycophytes and euphyllophytes (ferns and seed plants) are the two surviving lineages of vascular plants. The modern lycophytes (clubmosses) are herbaceous found either heterosporous (Isoetales and Selaginellales) or homosporous (Lycopodiales). The contrasting genome size between homosporous and heterosporous plants has long been an attractive topic...

Spikemoss (Selaginellaceae) is one of the basal lineages of vascular plants. This family has a single genus Selaginella which consists of about 750 extant species. The phylogeny of Selaginellaceae has been extensively studied mainly based on plastid DNA and a few nuclear sequences. However, the placement of the enigmatic sinensis group is a long-te...

The formation of spatial genetic structure with the presence of extensive gene flow, an evolutionary force which is generally expected to eliminate population‐specific variation and maintain genetic homogeneity, remains poorly understood. Homosporous ferns, which spread by spores through wind and possess long‐distance dispersal capacity, provide an...

The polygrammoid fern family Polypodiaceae represents one of the most diversified epiphytic fern groups, with more than 1600 species distributed on all continents except Antarctica, with the highest species diversity in tropical and subtropical regions. Despite progress in recent phylogenetic studies of Polypodiaceae, the infrafamilial classificati...

The Eurasian and Mediterranean Selaginella helvetica group is one of the taxonomically challenging groups in the cosmopolitan lycophyte genus Selaginella. Species of the S. helvetica group are all small plants with lax strobili composed of more or less isomorphic sporophylls (isosporophylls) that are basically non-resupinate. Owing to the similar a...

The polygrammoids (Polypodiaceae) are the most species‐rich and diversified epiphytic fern lineages, and hold an important role to understand the deep diverging events and rapid adaptation to changing environments in the plant tree of life. Despite progress in the phylogeny of this group of ferns in previous multilocus phylogenetic studies, uncerta...

The establishment of a segregate lepisoroid fern genus Ellipinema was mainly to accommodate the isolated position of Lepisorus jakonensis (Polypodiaceae) recovered in plastid gene tree. Using newly obtained nuclear data, we recovered that Ellipinema and allied genera, such as Lepidomicrosorium, Lemmaphyllum, Neolepisorus, Paragramma, Tricholepidium...

New Guinea is the world’s largest tropical island and has fascinated naturalists for centuries. Home to some of the best-preserved ecosystems on the planet and to intact ecological gradients—from mangroves to tropical alpine grasslands—that are unmatched in the Asia-Pacific region, it is a globally recognized centre of biological and cultural diver...

Here, we publish Lepisorus sect. Paragramma (Blume) C.F. Zhao, R. Wei & X.C. Zhang as a combinatio nova to replace the section name in Zhao et al. (2020), which was published as a status nova and turned out to be an invalid name, because we cited an incorrect basionym. A revised infrageneric classification of Lepisorus also is proposed.

Cladistics Cladistics Cover image: Tunicates comprise roughly 3000 species, most of which are sessile ascidians. In the fi rst cladistic analysis of morphological characters for Tunicata, Braun et al. show that these phenotypic characters by themselves support-concordant with molecular phylogenies-the planktonic appendicularians as sister group to...

To understand better the mechanisms underlying the disjunct distribution of plants between Taiwan and Himalaya‐southwestern China, the genus Prinsepia (Rosaceae) was examined using phylogenetic and dating approaches based on molecular evidence. Prinsepia comprises four allopatric species with distributions in four subregions of China, i.e., P. scan...

Lepisorus inaequibasis is thought to be of hybrid origin due to its leaf shape and sporangia being intermediate between those of its putative progenitors. Subsequent molecular studies have supported its hybrid origin, but its progenitors have not been determined. Here, we performed molecular phylogenetic analysis, flow cytometry (FCM), morphologica...

Due to wide hybridization and polyploidization, there are numerous species complexes with taxonomic challenges in the fern genus Asplenium. Integrative taxonomy using evidence of morphology, cytology and molecular phylogeny provides one of the best ways for the discovery and delimitation of species. The Asplenium coenobiale complex represents one o...

Despite progress in resolving the phylogeny of twinsorus ferns (Diplazium) based on multilocus phylogenetic studies, uncertainty remains especially for deep, or backbone relationships among closely related clades, suggesting a classic case of rapid evolutionary radiation. Here, we investigated the deep phylogenetic relationships within Diplazium by...

The fern genus Lepisorus represents one of the most complicated and controversial lineages in Polypodiaceae, with about 80 species which have been classified into several separate genera, and is notorious for its taxonomic difficulty. Despite progress in recent phylogenetic studies of the family Polypodiaceae involving Lepisorus and its allies, the...

The Asplenium pekinense complex, mainly comprises one diploid A. sarelii (rare), one autotetraploid A. pekinense (best known and very common), and shares two allotetraploids, A. anogrammoides (common but often misidentified) and A. altajense (rare and endemic) with the A. varians complex. The latter is further constituted by two diploids, A. tenuic...

Selaginellaceae has been repeatedly proved as monophyly by previous studies with only one genus being recognized. However, the subgeneric classification has been debated during the recent decades. Furthermore, phylogenetic position of the newly identified sanguinolenta group has not been resolved, varying depending on the datasets and analysis meth...

The relationship of Hypolepis brooksiae, H. nigrescens, and H. scabristipes to the remainder of Hypolepis (Dennstaedtiaceae) has been questioned by previous authors based on their unique combination of morphological characters and different base chromosome number. Using four chloroplast genes including rbcL, atpA, rpL6, and rps4-trnS intergenic spa...

In ferns, the temperate-tropical sister clades Athyrium and Diplazium present an opportunity to study a latitudinal contrast in diversification dynamics. We generated a taxonomically expanded molecular chronogram and used macroevolutionary models to analyze how diversification rates have changed through time, across lineages, and in concert with ch...

Homoplasy, autapomorphy and rapid radiation have frequently been discussed as the main causes of instable generic classifications of plants including ferns. In this study, we explore the natural generic classification for selligueoid ferns by investigating the phylogenetic relationships among almost all its previously recognized segregates. We comp...

Diplazium yinchanianum, a new species of Athyriaceae from the Shiwandashan mountains in Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated. This species is morphologically most similar to D. yaoshanense with both having a long creeping rhizome and 1-pinnate laminae with an abruptly reduced apex, but differs from the latter by having oblong laminae with a...

Background Ferns, originated about 360 million years ago, are the sister group of seed plants. Despite the remarkable progress in our understanding of fern phylogeny, with conflicting molecular evidence and different morphological interpretations, relationships among major fern lineages remain controversial. Results With the aim to obtain a robust...

The lady fern genus Athyrium represents one of the most diversified lineages in Athyriaceae with about 160–220 known species, and is notorious for its taxonomic difficulty. Despite progress in recent phylogenetic studies involving this genus, it still lacks a modern systematic and taxonomic update using integrative analyses of molecular and morphol...

Pyrrosia s.l. comprises ca. 60 species with a disjunct Africa/Asia and Australia distribution. The infrageneric classification of Pyrrosia s.l. is controversial based on the phylogenetic analyses of chloroplast markers and morphology. Based on the expanded taxon sampling of Pyrrosia s.l. (51 species), we investigated its phylogeny, biogeography, ch...

The eupolypods II ferns represent a classic case of evolutionary radiation and, simultaneously, exhibit high substitution rate hetero-geneity. These factors have been proposed to contribute to the contentious resolutions among clades within this fern group in multilocus phylogenetic studies. We investigated the deep phylogenetic relationships of eu...

Premise of research. Weatherbya is a small genus of subfamily Microsoroideae (Polypodiaceae) with controversial phylogenetic placements. In this study we aim to test the phylogenetic hypotheses about Weatherbya utilizing chloroplast and nuclear genes from an extensive generic sampling of Microsoroideae. Methodology. Phylogenetic analyses of DNA seq...

235 species of lycophytes and ferns are recoded from Maolan Karst Nature Reserve and vinicity of Libo, South Guizhou. All the species are illustrated with clolour pictures and line-drawings. By using rbcL as a barcode, some taxonomical problems are discussed.

Phylogeny has long informed pteridophyte classification. As our ability to infer evolutionary trees has improved, classifications aimed at recognizing natural groups have become increasingly predictive and stable. Here, we provide a modern, comprehensive classification for lycophytes and ferns, down to the genus level, utilizing a community-based a...

A new species of Athyrium from southern China is described and illustrated as Athyrium sessilipinnum. Morphological comparisons among this new species and similar ones (e.g., A. arisanense, A. gedeanum, A. epirachis, and A. otophorum) are provided. Molecular evidence reveals a sister relationship between the new species and A. arisanense. The most...

More than 1000 species of 40 families and almost of the genera of lycophyes and ferns from China are described and illustrated with colour photos. The text is bilingual.

The cliff fern family Woodsiaceae has experienced frequent taxonomic changes at the familial and generic ranks since its establishment. The bulk of its species were placed in Woodsia, while Cheilanthopsis, Hymenocystis, Physematium, and Protowoodsia are segregates recognized by some authors. Phylogenetic relationships among the genera of Woodsiacea...

Aim Gondwanan vicariance, boreotropical migration and long-distance dispersal have been posited as alternative hypotheses explaining the tropical distribution patterns and diversifications in many fern groups. Here, the historical biogeography of Diplazium is reconstructed to evaluate the impact of these biogeographical processes in shaping the mod...

Abies, the second largest genus of Pinaceae, consists of approximately 48 species occurring in the north temperate region. Previous molecular phylogenetic studies improved our understanding of relationships within the genus, but were limited by relying on only DNA sequence data from single genome and low taxonomic sampling. Here we use DNA data fro...

Didymochlaena Desv., a monotypic genus placed in Hypodematiaceae with a pantropical distribution, is reported new to China (Yunnan Province) in the present study. Descriptions of the specimens and brief discussions on the systematic placement of this genus are provided.

Cystoathyrium chinense Ching, the sole representative of Cystoathyrium, is a critically endangered species endemic to China with no more than 40 extant individuals. Until now, its systematic position and relationships among leptosporangiate ferns remained unknown. The present study assessed the phylogenetic relationships of Cystoathyrium chinense w...

Diplazium and allied segregates (Allantodia, Callipteris, Monomelangium) represent highly diverse genera belonging to the lady-fern family Athyriaceae. Because of the morphological diversity and lack of molecular phylogenetic analyses of this group of ferns, generic circumscription and infrageneric relationships within it are poorly understood. In...

Phylogenetic relationships and systematic positions of Diplaziopsis and Homalosorus were investigated by using two chloroplast DNA regions (rbcL and rps4+rps4-trnS). All the members of these two genera, 25 species representing other related groups and three out groups were included in the combined analyses of chloroplast DNA sequence datasets which...