Sticherus melanoblastus (Alston) Østergaard & Øllgaard (2001: 144)

Gleichenia melanoblasta Alston (1958: 230) .

Type: — COLOMBIA. Nariño: Putumayo, Quebrada Blanca, along camino Precipicio, Río Afiladores, 2130 m, Ewan 16280 (holotype BM!, isotype US!).

Distribution and ecology: —Local and apparently disjunct in western Colombia (Nariño), Guyana, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia (La Paz). It is locally common (especially in Ecuador) on roadbanks and landslides in humid montane forests at 1950–2950 m.

Notes: — Østergaard & Øllgaard (2001) recognized the morphological intermediacy between S. melanoblastus and S. tomentosus of a speciemn from Ecuador (Loja: trail ca. 5 km ENE of San Pedro de Vilcabamba, from “El Bosque” to Quebrada Romerillos, 2100–2200 m, Øllgaard & Navarrete 105881, AAU). However, they hesitated to designate it as a hybrid because the spores appeared normal. Yet, normal spores have also been observed in other hybrid specimens of Sticherus and the other characters (intermediate morphology) strongly suggest hybridization. The specimen has hybrid vigor (segments to 8.5 cm long) and grew as a single individual among a large mixed population of the putative parents (Østergaard & Øllgaard 2001).