Mineirella

The generic circumscription within the cheilanthoid ferns has seen numerous changes in the last decades as a result of molecular studies showing that traits that had been used to define genera had in fact evolved independently several times in different groups. Following up on this theme, Ponce & Scataglini (2020) described the new genus Mineirella to accommodate four species previously considered to belong to Cheilanthes, but now known to be more closely related to Adiantopsis and Doryopteris . Mineirella differs from typical Cheilanthes by having creeping rhizomes and pentagonal, pedate, lobate-pinnatifid, bipinnatifid, or basally pinnate leaves. The genus occurs on the sandstone and basaltic substrates in central Brazil and extends into Paraguay and Bolivia, where we find one species.