New insights into the phylogeny of Pleopeltis and related Neotropical genera (Polypodiaceae, Polypodiopsida).

The fern family Polypodiaceae plays an important role in Neotropical epiphyte diversity. Most of its American representatives are assembled in a monophyletic clade that, apart from the grammitids, nearly exclusively comprises species restricted to the New World. The phylogenetic relationships of these ferns are still insufficiently understood and many taxonomic problems, such as natural circumscriptions of the genera Polypodium and Pleopeltis, were unresolved.