Parapolystichum novoguineense (Holttum) Sundue & Testo, comb. nov. (Fig.

Basionym:— Lastreopsis novoguineensis Holttum (1991: 557).

Type:— PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Central District: Woitape, Abios, en route from Woitape to Mt. Albert-Edward, 2500 m, 18 Jan. 1974, Nakaike 578 (holotype K-000235793, image seen!).

With the addition of Parapolystichum novoguineense, Parapolystichum now comprises 28 species. It is distributed in both the New World and Old World tropics, but P. novoguineense is the only species known with certainty by us to occur on New Guinea, where it is distributed in montane regions from 1800–3200 m (Holttum 1991, Conn 2006 +). The presence of lastreopsid ferns other than P. novoguineense in New Guinea is not well known. Tindale did not list any species in her 1965 monograph. Two collections at CANB (Kalkman 4748, 5081) from the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea have been identified as P. smithianum, but we believe those are misidentifications of P. novoguineense pre-dating its publication, as that species is most likely an Australian endemic (Tindale 1965, Jones 1988, Labiak et al. 2014b). Labiak et al. (2014a) stated that two species of Lastreopsis s.s. occur on New Guinea, but did not indicate which species they believed were present there. However, only L. tenera, which is widespread throughout Malesia, is likely to be present there, but confirmation is needed. Parapolystichum novoguineense can be distinguished from both of these species by the clavate yellow glands that are present upon the abaxial lamina. Parapolystichum glabellum, the other most closely related species in our phylogenetic results, is known only from New Zealand. It can be distinguished by having dentate segment margins, dark brown indusia, and abaxial laminae that are abundantly provided with 0.2 mm long reddish simple hairs, and scattered 0.2 mm long clavate yellow glands. By comparison, P. novoguineense has crenate segment margins, light brown indusia, and abaxial laminae with sparse reddish simple hairs, and abundant clavate yellow glands.