Radiovittaria (Benedict) E.H.Crane, Syst. Bot.

Kessler, Michael, Smith, Alan R. & Prado, Jefferson, 2017, Prodromus of a fern flora for Bolivia. XXVII. Pteridaceae, Phytotaxa 332 (3), pp. 201-250 : 242

Radiovittaria (Benedict) E.H.Crane, Syst. Bot. 22(3): 514–515. 1997 [1998].

= Vittaria subg. Radiovittaria Benedict, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 38(4): 166. 1911.

Radiovittaria is characterized by red-brown petioles, and blades usually> 4 mm wide, with a single row of areoles and a single line of sporangia on each side of the midrib. Characters differentiating the species are subtle and rather few. Some species have flattened petioles, others have terete petioles (dried specimens); sori may be either superficial or sunken; and there is variation in venation and blade width. Species included in Radiovittaria were previously placed in Vittaria (e.g., by Benedict 1914), but recent phylogenetic studies have shown the genera to be distinct ( Crane et al. 1995, Crane 1997, Schuettpelz et al. 2016). In the analyses by Ruhfel et al. (2008) and Schuettpelz et al. (2016), Radiovittaria is sister to Hecistopteris , and this combined clade sister to the paleotropical genus Haplopteris . Radiovittaria is a neotropical genus of about 8 species, 6 in Bolivia; the genus is in need of taxonomic revision (the most recent one as Vittaria , by Benedict 1914).