NEW FERN RECORDS FOR THE STATE OF MORELOS, MEXICO: HEMIONITIS PINNATIFIDA AND MYRIOPTERIS LONGIPILA SUBSP. BREVIPILA (PTERIDACEAE) A.D. SÁNCHEZ-POPOCA 1 , K. MEHLTRETER 2 , K.M. AGUILAR-DORANTES 3* , R. RAMÍREZ-RODRÍGUEZ 4 1 Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Avenida Universidad 1001, Col. Chamilpa, Cuernavaca, Morelos, C.P. 62209, México, abril.sanchezp@uaem.edu.mx 2 Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Red de Ecología Funcional, Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, 91073 Xalapa, Veracruz, México, kmehltreter@gmail.com 3,4 Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Avenida Universidad 1001, Col. Chamilpa, Cuernavaca, Morelos, C.P. 62209, México, karla.aguilar@uaem.mx, rolando@uaem.mx * Corresponding author ABSTRACT We report two new records of rare fern species for the state of Morelos, Mexico: Hemionitis pinnatifida and Myriopteris longipila subsp. brevipila. For both species, we describe their main characteristics, cite studied material and present photographs and distribution maps, followed by comments on their habitat characteristics, historical record, rarity, and differential characteristics to closely related species or varieties. INTRODUCTION Ferns represent 4.4% of the vascular flora of Mexico (Tejero-Díez et al., 2014) and 5.6% of Morelos (188 taxa) (Riba et al., 1996; Hernández-Cárdenas et al., 2014), a Mexican state located in the southern, central highlands covering an area of nearly 5000 km 2 . Several authors have studied the fern diversity of Morelos (Vázquez-Sánchez, 1974; Riba et al., 1996; Bonilla-Barbosa & Villaseñor-Ríos, 2003; Mickel & Smith, 2004; Bonilla-Barbosa et al., 2010; Sánchez-Popoca, 2016), yet most collection efforts have focused on angiosperms (Riba, 1998). Here, we report on two new records of rare fern species for the state of Morelos that were documented during a botanical survey of the Sierra de Huautla Biosphere Reserve (SHBR), where ferns currently represent 6% (57 species) of the recorded vascular plants (Sánchez-Popoca, 2016). METHODS Between 2014 and 2017, three botanical surveys were carried out in the Huautla Biosphere Reserve, located in southern Morelos. This reserve comprises an area of 59.030 ha, representing nearly 12% of the state of Morelos, and extends across an altitudinal range from 670 to 2200 m. The dominant vegetation is classified as tropical dry forest (Dorado et al., 2005). First, we reviewed the literature records of all fern species of the state of Morelos (Vázquez-Sánchez, 1974; Riba et al., 1996; Bonilla-Barbosa & Villaseñor-Ríos, 2003; Mickel & Smith, 2004; Bonilla-Barbosa et al., 2010). Then, we identified the collected specimens and corroborated their identity with material from the National Herbarium of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (MEXU), the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAMIZ), as well as with FERN GAZ. 21(3): 113-119. 2020 113