Danaea moritziana

Keskiniva, Venni, Tuomisto, Hanna & Lehtonen, Samuli, 2024, Danaea (Marattiaceae) keeps diversifying, part 2: phylogeny and identification key for 81 taxa, Willdenowia 53 (3), pp. 229-255 : 238

Danaea moritziana clade

This clade consists of six species from the Caribbean region that are similar in having bicolorous laminae, large number of pinnae and clearly serrate pinna apices: Danaea moritziana (Coastal Venezuela and adjacent Colombia), D. mazeana (Lesser Antilles) , D. urbanii (Greater Antilles), D. cuspidopsis ( Costa Rica to northern Andes), D. jamaicensis (Greater Antilles), and D. jenmanii (Greater Antilles). They form a well-supported clade (BP = 98) with relatively small interspecific genetic differences.

The name Danaea moritziana C. Presl has traditionally been applied in a very wide sense. Our phylogenetic results suggest that the species should be circumscribed more narrowly. Our interpretation of the phylogenetic position of D. moritziana is based on material from the Caribbean coast of Colombia that morphologically matches the type of D. moritziana from Venezuela. Unfortunately, we do not have DNA from the type locality, but this interpretation leads to a morphologically coherent species whose distribution is limited to the northernmost parts of Venezuela and Colombia. Notably, none of the Mexican Holodanaea samples were resolved to the D. moritziana clade, strongly supporting the recognition of D. cuspidata as a distinct species. The situation was complicated by the fact that some Costa Rican and Colombian specimens were deeply embedded in the D. moritziana clade even though they were morphologically very similar to D. cuspidata . These have now been described as D. cuspidopsis ( Keskiniva & Tuomisto 2024) .

Christenhusz (2010) synonymized Danaea jamaicensis under D. mazeana , but the phylogeny shows that D. mazeana forms a clade of its own at the base of the D. moritziana clade, whereas D. jamaicensis groups with D. jenmanii . The latter two species are intermingled in the phylogeny, but we decided to keep them as separate species because of their morphological differences: D. jenmanii is generally smaller and has fewer pairs of shorter pinnae, shorter pinna apices, more scaly petioles and rachises, and the terminal pinna (or a part thereof) is replaced by a bud (vs terminal pinna usually present in D. jamaicensis ). In our interpretation, D. mazeana is restricted to the Lesser Antilles, whereas D. jamaicensis and D. jenmanii occur in the Greater Antilles. The material from Lesser Antilles that we identified to D. mazeana has generally narrower pinnae and broader pinna apices, and they dry to a darker colour than D. jamaicensis .