Sphaeropteris guangxiensis

Ecology: — The species was found associated with some woody plants (Figure 2: A, B), such as Mallotus japonicus (Sprengel 1826: 878) Müller Argoviensis (1865: 189), Mangifera indica Linnaeus (1753: 200), and Bambusa chungii McClure (1936: 639). It was also found to be associated with species of Arecaceae Bercht. & J. Presl, ferns such as Asplenium nidus Linnaeus (1753: 1079), Lemmaphyllum rostratum (Beddome 1866: 159) Tagawa (1966: 193), and Microsorum punctatum (Linnaeus 1763: 1524) Copeland (1929: 111) were found to be associated with their trunk. Approximately 50 adult plants and a few young ones were found in the population. IUCN Red List category: — Sphaeropteris guangxiensis has a restricted geographic distribution, and yet not found in other regions out of the type locality. Local people occasionally utilize this species as firewood. Our field investigations showed that there were no abnormalities in the spores of the new species which indicated that the new species can replenish themselves. Moreover, we observed hundreds individuals of this species in a large population at the border of Guangxi Province, China and Vietnam. The status of the new species can be classified as Endangered (EN) [A 2 a; B 2 b (iv) (v)], but more investigations are still needed to accurately assess its conservation status.