''Danaea'' is a

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

genus of approximately 50 species in the eusporangiate fern family

Marattiaceae Marattiaceae is the only family of extant (living) ferns in the order Marattiales. In the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I), Marattiales is the only order in the subclass Marattiidae. The family has six genera and about ...

. They are small to intermediately large ferns with erect or creeping rhizomes and usually once-pinnate leaves with opposite pinnae. The fertile leaves are contracted, acrostichoid and covered below with sunken, linear

synangia A sporangium (; from Late Latin, ) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungi, and many other lineages form sporangia at some point in their life cy ...

. The genus ''Danaea'' has a

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

distribution, occurring from southern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

through

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, the Caribbean and northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

to Bolivia,

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

and the Mata Atlantica in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and Northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. There is also a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

on Isla del Coco (

Cocos Island Cocos Island ( es, Isla del Coco) is an island in the Pacific Ocean administered by Costa Rica, approximately southwest of the Costa Rican mainland. It constitutes the 11th of the 13 districts of Puntarenas Canton of the Province of Puntarena ...

) in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. The genus name of ''Danaea'' is named after the Greek mythology,

Danaë In Greek mythology, Danaë (, ; ; , ) was an Argive princess and mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus. She was credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium during the Bronze Age. Family Danae was the daughter and only child of King Acri ...

, an Argive princess and mother of the hero Perseus by

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

. Two species ''Danaea carillensis'' (Costa Rica) and ''D. simplicifolia'' ( Guianas, Brazil,

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

) have simple, undivided leaves, and some other species sometimes have bipinnate leaves (''D. atlantica, D. bipinnata, D. nodosa, D. urbanii''). One species ''

Danaea kalevala ''Danaea kalevala'' is a species of fern belonging to the family Marattiaceae. It is endemic to rainforests of the Lesser Antilles islands in the Caribbean. This includes the islands of: Saint Kitts, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Vinc ...

'' of the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc bet ...

was named in honour of the Finnish heroic epic

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and ...

. The basal chromosome number for this genus is ''2n=80''. The type species is ''Danaea nodosa''.

Taxonomy

''Danaea'' is the basal lineage in the

and the oldest fossils are from the

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...

, a period where rainforests became more abundant. It has radiated in these early rainforests and presently counts about 50 species in 3 sections: sect. ''Danaea'', sect. ''Arthrodanaea'' and sect. ''Holodanaea''.

Species

*'' Danaea acuminata'' Tuomisto & R.C.Moran *'' Danaea alata'' Sm. *'' Danaea antillensis'' Christenh. *'' Danaea atlantica'' Christenh., E.M.Almeida & L.P.Felix *'' Danaea arbuscula'' Christenh. & Tuomisto *'' Danaea bicolor'' Tuomisto & R.C.Moran *'' Danaea bipinnata'' Tuomisto *†'' Danaea borealis'' Pabst *'' Danaea carillensis'' H.Christ *'' Danaea cartilaginea'' Christenh. & Tuomisto *'' Danaea chococola'' Christenh. *'' Danaea crispa'' Endrés *'' Danaea danaëpinna'' Christenh. *'' Danaea draco'' Christenh. *'' Danaea epiphytica'' Christenh. *'' Danaea erecta'' Tuomisto & R.C.Moran *'' Danaea excurrens'' Rosenst. *'' Danaea falcata'' Tuomisto & R.C.Moran *'' Danaea geniculata'' Raddi *'' Danaea grandifolia'' Underw. *'' Danaea humilis'' T.Moore *'' Danaea imbricata'' Tuomisto & R.C.Moran * ''Danaea'' × ''jamaicensis'' Underw. (''D. jenmanii'' × ''D. mazeana'')) *'' Danaea jenmanii'' Underw. *''

'' Christenh. *'' Danaea latipinna'' Tuomisto & R.C.Moran *'' Danaea leprieurii'' Kunze *'' Danaea leussinkiana'' Christenh. *'' Danaea lingua-cervina'' Christenh. & Tuomisto *'' Danaea longicaudata'' Tuomisto *'' Danaea mazeana'' Underw. *'' Danaea media''

Liebmann Liebmann is a surname that may refer to: * Axel Liebmann (1849–1876), Danish composer * Barry Liebmann (1953–2017), comedy writer for ''MAD Magazine'' * Charles Liebmann (1837–1928), German-born, American brewer * Frederik Michael Liebmann ...

*'' Danaea moritziana''

C.Presl Carl Borivoj Presl ( cs, Karel Bořivoj Presl; 17 February 1794 – 2 October 1852) was a Czechs, Czech botanist. Biography Presl lived his entire life in Prague, and was a professor of botany at the Charles University in Prague, University of P ...

*'' Danaea nodosa''

Sm. __NOTOC__ Sir James Edward Smith (2 December 1759 – 17 March 1828) was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society. Early life and education Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a ...

*'' Danaea oblanceolata'' Stolze * ''Danaea'' × ''plicata'' H.Christ (''D. carillensis × D. crispa'') *'' Danaea polymorpha'' Lepr. ex Baker *'' Danaea quebradensis'' Christenh. *'' Danaea riparia'' Christenh. & Tuomisto *'' Danaea sellowiana'' C.Presl *'' Danaea simplicifolia'' Rudge *'' Danaea tenera'' C.V.Morton *'' Danaea trichomanoides'' Spruce ex T.Moore *'' Danaea trifoliata'' Reichenb. *'' Danaea trinitatensis'' Christenh. & Tuomisto *'' Danaea ulei'' H.Christ *'' Danaea urbanii'' Maxon *'' Danaea ushana'' Christenh. *'' Danaea vivax'' Christenh. & Tuomisto *'' Danaea xenium'' Christenh. & Tuomisto *'' Danaea ypori'' Christenh. *'' Danaea wendlandii'' Reichenb.f. *'' Danaea zamiopsis'' Christenh. & Tuomisto

References

* Christenhusz, M. J. M., Tuomisto, H. Metzgar, J. and Pryer, K. M., in press. Evolutionary relationships within the Neotropical, eusporangiate fern genus ''Danaea'' (Marattiaceae).

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of evolutionary biology and phylogenetics. The journal is edited by E.A. Zimmer. Indexing The journal is indexed in: * EMBiology *Journal Citation Reports *Scopus ...

(

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as '' The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', ...

). * Christenhusz, M.J.M., Tuomisto, H. 2005. Some notes on the taxonomy, biogeography and ecology of ''Danaea'' (Marattiaceae). Fern Gazette 17 (5): 217–222. * Christenhusz, M. J. M. 2006. Three new species of ''Danaea'' (Marattiaceae) from French Guiana and the Lesser Antilles. Annales Botanici Fennici 43: 212–219. * Christenhusz, M. J. M., Tuomisto, H. 2006. Five new species of ''Danaea'' (Marattiaceae) from Peru and a new status for ''D. elliptica''.

Kew Bulletin The ''Kew Bulletin'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal on plant and fungal taxonomy and conservation published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Articles on palynology, cytology, anatomy, ...

61: 17–30. * Christenhusz, M. J. M. 2010. ''Danaea'' (Marattiaceae) revisited: biodiversity, a new classification and ten new species of a neotropical fern genus.

Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society The ''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society'' is a scientific journal publishing original papers relating to the taxonomy of all plant groups and fungi, including anatomy, biosystematics, cytology, ecology, ethnobotany, electron microscopy, ...

163: 360–385. * Tuomisto, H., Moran, R. C. 2001. Marattiaceae. In: Harling, G., Anderson, L. (eds.), Flora of Ecuador 66: 22–170. * Underwood, L.M. 1902. American Ferns - V, A Review of the Genus ''Danaea''. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 29(12): 669–679. {{Taxonbar, from=Q5214890 Marattiidae Fern genera