Tuhinga 26: 49-60, doi: 10.3897/tuhinga.26.e34219
Re-evaluation of the taxonomic status of Cyathea kermadecensis and C. milnei (Cyatheaceae) supports their continued recognition
Patrick Brownsey, Leon Perrie© Patrick Brownsey, Leon Perrie. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Brownsey P, Perrie L (2015) Re-evaluation of the taxonomic status ofCyathea kermadecensisandC. milnei (Cyatheaceae) supports their continued recognition. Tuhinga 26: 49-60. https://doi.org/10.3897/tuhinga.26.e34219 |  |
Abstract
Two species of Cyathea (Cyatheaceae) have been recognised as endemic to Raoul Island in the Kermadec Islands: C. kermadecensis and C. milnei . However, their relationships to their mainland relatives – C. cunninghamii and C. dealbata, respectively – have been uncertain, with their morphological distinctiveness in question. Here, we review their taxonomic status. The DNA sequences investigated are uninformative as to delimi - tation of the Kermadec plants, but they do support a close relationship to the mainland species. Morphologically, we find that C. kermadecensis can be consistently distinguished from C. cunninghamii, and likewise C. milnei from C. dealbata. With no data to reassess whether species or subspecies rank is most appropriate, we recommend the taxonomically conservative approach of retaining both C. kermadecensis and C. milnei as separate species for now.
Keywords
Cyatheaceae, Cyathea cunninghamii, Cyathea dealbata, Cyathea milnei, Cyathea kermadecensis, ferns, Kermadec Islands, New Zealand Botanical Region, taxonomy.