New fern species in Quang Binh cave

Vietnamese and American scientists have just announced a new species of fern discovered in the cave in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park (Quang Binh).

Scientists of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park (Quang Binh), Vietnam Nature Museum and Mitsuri Botanical Garden (USA) surveyed, studied and collected cave ferns in Phong Nha .

Quang Binh ferns in nature.(Photo: Phong Nha National Park).

They found and published a new fern species, called Polystichum quangbinhense, of the Dryopteridaceae family in the scientific journal Phytotaxa 283 (3): 295-299, 2016.

Sample of Quang Binh ferns.(Photo: Phong Nha National Park).

Polystichum quangbinhense is detected in caves at an altitude of 120 m with humid conditions and lack of light. The species currently has 2 populations in Bat Cave and So Chop Cave in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park.

According to the flora list of Phong Nha National Park, there are 248 species of ferns, belonging to 92 genera. Polystichum quangbinhense is a cave endemic, narrow habitat, humid, low-light tropical conditions and classified as extremely dangerous conservation level in the IUCN Red List under the guidance of the International Conservation Organization.

Habitat of new ferns in the cave.(Photo: Phong Nha National Park).

According to research by scientists, this genus is distributed in southern China and Quang Binh. This is an important record in botany, especially the species relationship with other species of this genus in the world.