Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 February 2026 | 18(2): 28424–28427
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9968.18.2.28424-28427
#9968 | Received 30 May 2025 | Final received 08 February | Finally
accepted 18 February 2026
Occurrence of the wood fern Arachniodes sledgei
Fraser-Jenk. (Pteridophyta:
Dryopteridaceae) in the northern Western Ghats, India
Sachin Patil
1 & Jagannath Patil
2
1 Laboratory of Life-science, Shahid Veerpatni Laxmi Mahavidyalaya, Titave,
Maharashtra 416208, India.
2 National Assessment and
Accreditation Council Bengaluru, Naagarabhaavi,
Bengaluru, Karnataka 560072, India.
1 sach2010d@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 jp.naacindia@gmail.com
Editor: Anonymity requested. Date of publication: 26 February 2026 (online & print)
Citation: Patil, S. & J. Patil (2026). Occurrence of
the wood fern Arachniodes sledgei Fraser-Jenk. (Pteridophyta: Dryopteridaceae) in
the northern Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 18(2): 28424–28427. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9968.18.2.28424-28427
Copyright: © Patil & Patil
2026. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use,
reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing
adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors are very much thankful to the Management body of Shahid Veerpatni Laxmi Mahavidyalaya, Titve, for their financial support and encouragement.
Abstract: The genus Arachniodes
(Dryopteridaceae) is mainly distributed in tropical
Asia, with Indian records largely confined to the Himalaya, northeastern India,
and southern Western Ghats. No confirmed report existed from the northern
Western Ghats of Maharashtra. The present note discusses the occurrence of Arachniodes sledgei
Fraser-Jenk. as a new distributional record for the
northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra. A detailed morphological description,
distribution, ecology, conservation status, and photographs are given. The
field surveys conducted during 2023–2025 in Kolhapur District yielded specimens
that were identified through morphological comparison with standard floras and
herbarium collections. This finding extends the known distribution of the
species and highlights the need for further pteridophyte exploration and
conservation assessment in the northern Western Ghats.
Keywords: Africa, Asia, diversity,
distribution, Dryopteris, ecology, Kolhapur, Polystichum, pteridophytes, taxonomy.
The genus Arachniodes
Blume (Dryopteridaceae) comprises a group of medium-
to large-sized terrestrial ferns characterised by
distinctive morphological features, including erect or long-creeping rhizomes
densely covered with brown scales, scaly stipes, and pinnae often bearing a
characteristic auricle resembling those of Polystichum.
The lamina is typically glossy on the adaxial surface, bipinnate to tripinnate,
and coriaceous in texture. The sori are indusiate,
usually arranged near the margins of the lobes, with indusia reniform and
occasionally ovoid, resembling those seen in Dryopteris.
These diagnostic characters collectively distinguish Arachniodes
from closely related genera within Dryopteridaceae
and are important for accurate taxonomic identification.
Globally, the genus includes
approximately 60–70 accepted species distributed primarily in subtropical and
tropical forest regions. The highest diversity occurs in eastern and
southeastern Asia, particularly in China, Japan, India, and neighbouring
regions extending to southern and southeastern Asia. A smaller number of
species are reported from Africa, Central & South America, Australia,
Madagascar, Madeira, and various Pacific Islands, indicating a wide but uneven
geographical distribution (Lu et al. 2019; POWO 2026). The genus generally
prefers shaded, moist forest habitats, often occurring on rocky slopes, forest
floors, and montane ecosystems.
In India, about 14 species of Arachniodes have been documented, mainly from the
Himalayan region, Northeast India, and the southern Western Ghats
(Fraser-Jenkins et al. 2018; Benniamin & Sundari 2020). However, before the present study, no
representatives of the genus had been reported from the northern Western Ghats,
highlighting a significant gap in the known distribution of this fern group in
the Indian subcontinent.
Collection of plant materials
The collection was made during
the period from June 2023–December 2025 from different locations (Tilhari Nagar, Amboli, Panhala, Gargoti, Radhanagari, Mahabaleshwar, and Lonavala) of the northern Western
Ghats. However, the collection of Arachniodes
sledgei was made exclusively from the forests of Gargoti in the Kolhapur District of Maharashtra.
Identification
The collected plant materials
were processed in the laboratory by cleaning, pressing, and preparing herbarium
specimens following standard botanical methods. Identification was carried out
through detailed morphological examination of vegetative and reproductive
characters such as rhizome scales, frond architecture, pinnae & pinnule
morphology, venation pattern, sori arrangement, and
indusium characteristics under a stereomicroscope. The specimens were
identified by consulting relevant taxonomic literature, including Manickam
& Irudayaraj (1992) and Fraser-Jenkins et al. (2018), and further confirmed
by comparison with authenticated voucher specimens available at the JCB
herbarium. The voucher specimens: SMPJAP 1001 and 1002 were deposited in the
BARO herbarium of the Department of Botany, The Maharaja Sayajirao University
of Baroda and SMPJAP 1003 and 1004 at BJB, Herbarium of the Department of
Botany, Hon. Balasaheb Jadhav Arts, Commerce and
Science College, Ale.
Results
Taxonomic treatment
Arachniodes sledgei Fraser-Jenk.,
Taxon. Revis. Three Hundred Indian Subcont. Pterid. 323–324. 2008;
Fraser-Jenkins et al., An Annot. Check. Ind. Pterid. Part-II. 205–206. 2018.
Type: from Sri Lanka, Corbet’s Gap,
1,320 m, W.A. Sledge 559, 9.12.1950, BM.
Arachniodes tripinnata (Goldm.) Sledge, Bull.
Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), Bot. 5: 41. 1973; Manickam &
Irudayaraj, Pterid. Fl. W. Ghats. 219. 1992 & Pterid. Flora Nilgiris, 2003; Madhusoodanan., Handb. Ferns and
Fern allies Kerala. 2015; Rajagopal & Bhat, Pterid.
Karnataka St., Ind. 2016.
Arachniodes coniifolia (T.Moore) Ching, Acta Bot. Sin. 10: 257 (1962); Nair
et al., J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 18: 449–476. 1994; Nayar
& Geevarghese, Fern F. Malabar, 1993.
Plant terricolous or saxicolous,
medium-sized herb, reaching a height up to 120 cm; rhizome 2–3 cm long, 5–15 mm
thick, erect, dark brown, densely scaly; scales 5–10 mm long, 2–3 mm broad,
concolorous, brown-black, linear-lanceolate, apex long acuminate , base broad,
margin toothed; fronds monomorphic, ovate-deltoid, dark green; stipe 30–40 cm
long, green when young, becoming brown at maturity, adaxially grooved,
abaxially round, covered with brown scales; stipe scales same as of rhizome;
lamina 70–80 cm long, 15–20 cm wide, bipinnate-tripinnate, ovate-deltoid, dark
green, glossy above, with 10–12 pairs of pinnae; rachis adaxially
grooved, abaxially round, covered with brown scales; rachis scales similar to
that of rhizome; pinnae 7–10 cm long, 3–5 cm wide, ovate-deltoid, alternately
arranged, apex acuminate, base cuneate, margin lobed, 5–8 pairs or pinnules;
pinnules 1–1.5 cm, 5–8 mm wide, oblong-lanceolate, dark green, acroscopically lobed, basiscopically
less lobed; texture coriaceous; veins forked, free, 2–3 pairs, reaching
up to margin; sori at the base of lobe, 8–12
per pinnae, reniform or orbicular, indusiate; indusium reniform or orbicular,
thin, membranaceous, pale green at young, brown at
maturity, more or less persistent; spores 30 x 35 µm in diameter, trilete,
brown, ellipsoid or planoconvex with thinly folded perine.
Global distribution: India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka
(Fraser-Jenkins et al. 2018).
India: Maharashtra (present report),
Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
Ecology: It is a common element of the
forests of southern India. At the present study site, the species was observed
growing as a terricolous and saxicolous fern along the edges of rocky hill
slopes and within caves, at altitudes ranging from 600–1,100 m. More than 300
individuals were recorded within a 1 km² area in the Gargoti
region of Kolhapur District. The population occurs in dense forest habitats and
is commonly associated with Asplenium inaequilaterale,
Thelypteris dentata, and Pteris biaurita.
Specimens examined: INDIA, Karnataka, Chickmanglur District, Bagavathi
to Gangamula, 08.x.1979, C.J. Saldanha, KFP 9720
(JCB!); Hasan Dt., Devarunde & Devalkere, 26.x.1970, F.M. Jarrett & T.P. Ramamoorthi, 1048 (JCB!); Maharashtra, Kolhapur District, Gargoti, Berry Land near Pal, 16.396° N, 74.191° E,
14.xii.2024, S.M. Patil & J.M. Patil, 1001, 1002 (BARO); 23.ii.2025, S.M. Patil & J.M. Patil, 1003,
1004 (BJB).
Discussion
Fraser-Jenkins et al. (2018)
reported four species of Arachniodes from
southern India, namely A. amabilis, A. cornu-cervi, A. palmipes,
and A. sledgei. However, no representatives of
the genus were previously documented from the northern Western Ghats of
Maharashtra. The present collection, therefore, represents the first confirmed
occurrence of A. sledgei in this region,
significantly extending its known distribution range northwards within the
Western Ghats.
The species has historically been
confused with A. tripinnata and A. coniifolia. However, Fraser-Jenkins (2008) and
Fraser-Jenkins et al. (2018) clarified that true A. tripinnata
is restricted to the Malesian region and that earlier
Indian records under this name correspond to A. sledgei.
Similarly, A. coniifolia does not occur in
southern India, and previous reports were based on misidentifications. The
morphological characters observed in the present specimens, particularly the
bipinnate–tripinnate fronds, glossy lamina, auriculate pinnae, and reniform
indusia, are consistent with the diagnostic features of A. sledgei, confirming its identity.
In southern India, the genus Arachniodes is largely confined to the Western
Ghats, highlighting this mountain system as an important centre
of diversity. The occurrence of A. sledgei in
the Gargoti region of Maharashtra suggests floristic
continuity between the southern and northern segments of the Western Ghats and
indicates that suitable habitats for the species may be more widespread than
previously recognised.
The taxonomic ambiguity and
nomenclatural status of Arachniodes sledgei were thoroughly examined and resolved by
Fraser-Jenkins (2008) and Fraser-Jenkins et al. (2018) through detailed
morphological comparisons and critical evaluation of earlier literature. Their
studies provided a stable taxonomic framework for the genus in the Indian
subcontinent.
From a conservation perspective,
the discovery of a relatively large population (>300 individuals within 1
km²) indicates that the species may be locally well established in suitable
habitats. However, comprehensive population data across its range remains
insufficient. Further surveys are therefore necessary to more accurately
evaluate its conservation status.
Thus, the present record not only
adds to the fern diversity of Maharashtra but also contributes to a better
understanding of the distribution, taxonomy, and biogeography of Arachniodes in India.
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References
Benniamin, A. & M.S. Sundari (2020). Pteridophytes of Western
Ghats — A Pictorial Guide.
Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal
Singh, Dehradun, India, 203 pp.
Fraser-Jenkins,
C.R., K.N. Gandhi & B.S. Kholia (2018). An Annotated Checklist of
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to Dryopteridaceae). Bishen
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X.-F. & L.-B. Zhang
(2019). A plastid phylogeny of the fern genus Arachniodes
(Dryopteridaceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and
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Manickam,
V.S. & V. Irudayaraj (1992). Pteridophyte Flora of Western
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POWO (2026). Plants of the World Online.
Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. https://powo.science.kew.org/.
Accessed on 18.ii.2026.