Abstract
The inventory of biodiversity in the Comoros archipelago is still in progress. We propose here to contribute to this effort by assessing the diversity of the Hymenophyllaceae family, which forms one of the most diverse and emblematic fern communities in rainforests of the region. Data were extracted from floras, literature, recent collects and observations, and from an exhaustive investigation of the Paris herbarium collection. We also completed an online knowledge database including a computer-aided identification (CAI) tool by using the Xper platform. Our checklist recognizes 21 taxa involving 1 endemic and 7 species newly reported for the archipelago. The taxonomy and discrimination of each taxon is discussed and a dichotomous key is provided. We also defined 80 morphological characters and their corresponding states into the Xper database and CAI that could be easily enriched for neighbouring areas and additional taxa.
Highlights
The four islands of the Comoros (Mayotte or Maore, and belonging to the Union of Comoros: Ngazidja or Grande Comore, Ndzuani or Anjouan and Mwali or Mohéli), with all other islands of the southwestern Indian Ocean constitute one of the 25 world biodiversity hotspots (Myers et al 2000; Labat et al 2010)
We here propose to contribute to this knowledge effort by completing lists and taxonomic repository for ferns and lycophytes, and by focusing first on representative lineages that can form significant communities in local tropical forests: the Hymenophyllaceae
They were confronted to online databases: Sonnerat (MNHN, Paris herbarium P, https://science.mnhn.fr/institution/mnhn/collection/p/item/search/ form), the Checklist of ferns and lycophytes of the world, the Index of the vascular flora of La Réunion, and Mayotte, The Plant List and the Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar included in Tropicos
Summary
The four islands of the Comoros (Mayotte or Maore, and belonging to the Union of Comoros: Ngazidja or Grande Comore, Ndzuani or Anjouan and Mwali or Mohéli), with all other islands of the southwestern Indian Ocean constitute one of the 25 world biodiversity hotspots (Myers et al 2000; Labat et al 2010). This theoretically results in an outstanding biodiversity for the archipelago according to its geographic location between Madagascar and East Africa (Fig. 1). We here propose to contribute to this knowledge effort by completing lists and taxonomic repository for ferns and lycophytes, and by focusing first on representative lineages that can form significant communities in local tropical forests: the Hymenophyllaceae (filmy ferns)
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