A reassessment of the Neotropical Cyathea pungens complex (Cyatheaceae)

Cyathea pungens, a widespread Neotropical scaly tree fern, is reassessed taxonomically. Based on extensive field observations in South America and the Caribbean, and comparative studies of herbarium specimens and online resources, we define C. pungens as a mainly Amazonian species that extends into the Caribbean but neither beyond west of the Andes nor into the Brazilian Mata Atlantica. Records from west of the Colombian Cordillera Oriental belong to other species, which differ slightly but consistently in the laminar indument (i.e., abundance and color of bullate squamules, and presence of hairs variable vs constant) and prevailing pinnule shape (with only obtuse tips vs acute and obtuse tips). The weak differences in the specimens are generally corroborated by different appearances in the field (i.e., shape of the blades, and number of pinnae) and preferred elevational ranges. The distributions of C. pungens and C. oblonga overlap in the area of the Guyana shield, but C. oblonga is also found along the Caribbean coast and northern lowlands of Colombia and Venezuela. Both species are rarely found above 1000 m and are largely replaced in the mountains by C. klotzschiana (Colombian Cordillera Oriental, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and Venezuelan coastal ranges) and C. pastazensis (Colombian Cordillera Central and Occidental as well as eastern Andean slopes of Ecuador). To this group further belongs C. dombeyi from the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, and the reinstated C. pycnocarpa and C. floribunda from Peru and Bolivia. Several additional species are tentatively placed in this group: the northern Andean C. squamata, the Guayanan C. neblinae, Brazilian C. praecincta and Andean C. werffii.