Mickelia R.C.Moran, Labiak & Sundue, Brittonia

Kessler, Michael, Moran, Robbin C., Mickel, John T., Matos, Fernando B. & Smith, Alan R., 2018, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. XXXV. Dryopteridaceae, Phytotaxa 353 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

Mickelia R.C.Moran, Labiak & Sundue, Brittonia 62(4): 338. 2010.

Mickelia is one of several genera in the bolbitidoid clade of the Dryopteridaceae .In Bolivia, the other genera in this clade are Bolbitis and Elaphoglossum . All three genera have rhizomes with an elongated ventral meristele (as seen in cross-section), generally lack of hairs on the leaves, dimorphic sterile and fertile leaves, and acrostichoid sporangia. Until recently, the 10 species of Mickelia were classified in Bolbitis or Lomagramma ( Hennipman 1977) , but phylogenetic work has shown that these species are sister to Elaphoglossum ( Moran et al. 2010a) , not Bolbitis , thus prompting the description of the new genus Mickelia ( Moran et al. 2010b) . There is no single character distinguishing Mickelia from Bolbitis , but the former is usually hemiepiphytic ( Bolbitis is terrestrial), usually lacks leaf buds (present in Bolbitis ), buds (if present) borne in a pinna axil (vs. near pinna apex in Bolbitis ), and with mostly conform or subconform blade apices (usually pinnatifid and tapering in Bolbitis ; Moran et al. 2010b). Mickelia is entirely neotropical and has been treated taxonomically by Moran et al. (2010b).