Dipteridaceae

Umbrella ferns
Temporal range: Middle Triassic–Recent
Dipteris conjugata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Division: Polypodiophyta
Class: Polypodiopsida
Order: Gleicheniales
Family: Dipteridaceae
Seward & E.Dale 1901
Genera
Synonyms
  • Cheiropleuriaceae Nakai 1928

The Dipteridaceae is a family of ferns in the order Gleicheniales of the class Polypodiopsida.[1] They are commonly known as umbrella ferns and contain two genera, Cheiropleuria and Dipteris,[2] with a total of nine species confined to Asia, New Guinea and northern Australia[3] While currently a small family, they were much more abundant in the Mesozoic era, with the oldest fossils being known from the Middle Triassic of Italy, Australia and Argentina. Seven fossil genera are recognised, including Hausmannia, Clathropteris, Dictyophyllum, Thaumatopteris, Camptopteris, and Polyphacelus.[4]

The following diagram shows the placement of Dipteridaceae in a likely phylogenic relationship with the other two families of Gleicheniales.[5]

Gleicheniales
Gleicheniaceae

6 genera

Matoniaceae

2 genera

Dipteridaceae

Cheiropleuria – about 3 species

Dipteris – about 7 species

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Smith-2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Christenhusz-2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Christenhusz, M. J. M.; Byng, J. W. (2016). "The number of known plants species in the world and its annual increase". Phytotaxa. 261 (3). Magnolia Press: 201–217. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1.
  4. ^ Bodnar, Josefina; Drovandi, Juan; Morel, Eduardo; Ganuza, Daniel (2018). "Middle Triassic dipterid ferns from west-central Argentina and their relation to palaeoclimatic changes". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 63. doi:10.4202/app.00459.2018.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lehtonen-2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).