- IPNI Life Sciences Identifier (LSID)
- urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:60452466-2
- Publication
- American Fern Journal; a quarterly devoted to ferns.
- Collation
- 98(4): 216 (-219; f.1,7A)
- Date of Publication
- dt. 2008; issued 27 Mar 2009
- Family as entered in IPNI
- Grammitidaceae
Type Information
- Collector Team
- M. Lehnert 714
- Locality
- Santa Cruz: Prov. Caballero, Comarapa, ca. 1 km de Siberia hacia Torecillos, alt. 2650 m
- Collection Date
- 18 Mar 2003
- Type Herbaria
- holotype GOET
isotype LPB
isotype UC - Latitude
- 17° 49' S
- Longitude
- 64° 40' W
Remarks
Protologue: The name refers to the white wax-like deposit on the abaxial laminae (Latin, albicans = being white). Melpomene albicans grows in elfin forests, cloud forests, and moist montane forests at 1500–3400 m in Bolivia and eastern Brazil (Fig. 7A). There are only a few other species of Melpomene with whitish abaxial laminar surfaces. Among these, Melpomene youngii differs from M. albicans in being almost completely glabrous (rarely 1–2 hairs present in some sori vs. 4–10 hairs in sori, petioles glabrous to glabrescent with few hairs in M. albicans) and the more strongly ascending segments; Melpomene sodiroi (Christ & Rosenst.) A. R. Sm. & R. C. Moran matches M. albicans in the hair distribution, but has gibbose segments with the sori slightly to deeply sunken (vs. laminae planar with superficial sori in M. albicans) and larger scales (on average 6.0–9.0 × 1.0–1.2 mm, 24–30 cells wide vs. 3.0–5.0 × 0.6–0.8 mm, 16–20 cells wide) with characteristically long tapering tips (vs. acute to short-attenuate). Melpomene erecta (C. V. Morton) A. R. Sm. & R. C. Moran, which only rarely has white laminar surfaces, has thicker rhizomes (to 2.4 mm diam. vs. to 1.6 mm diam. in M. albicans) and wider scales (on average 38–60 cells vs. 16–20 cells across base).