Exploration and origins of biodiversity in Madagascar: The message of ferns
Résumé
Madagascar is a continental island in the Indian Ocean, renowned for both its extraordinary biodiversity and the threats it faces. Ferns and lycophytes are the two lineages of vascular plants with spores. The authors use them as biological models in biogeographic studies, as they present several traits that allow us to test different hypotheses about the origin of the lineages present in Madagascar. The exploration and description of the diversity of species of these groups has been the subject of numerous field missions and research projects, and it is expected that about 700 species will be included in the new “Flora of the Pteridophytes of Madagascar”, coordinated at the MNHN by F. Rakotondrainibe. The genus Rumohra Raddi (Dryopteridaceae), although poorly diversified with only seven species, constitutes a good model for the study of the biogeography and origin of lineages in Madagascar.