La pteridoflora (helechos y licófitos) del Espacio Natural Sierra de las Nieves (Málaga, España)

A catalogue of ferns and lycophytes has been made from the Sierra de las Nieves Natural Area. It is a territory located in southern Iberian Peninsula (Malaga province, Spain) and it is composed of Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park and a surrounding area proposed as National Park. 38 taxa belonging to 10 families have been identified. Of the three biogeographic subsectors that make up the natural area, those with the greatest diversity of taxa are the Marbella subsector with 24 taxa and the Ronda subsector with 21, and the least diverse is the Bermeja subsector with 16. Of the total of taxa, 7 are common to all subsectors. 8 are exclusive for the Marbella subsector, 9 for Ronda and 4 for Bermeja. The most important families in diversity are Aspleniaceae and Pteridaceae with 12 taxa each. The rest of the families range from 1 to 3 taxa. Of the 38 taxa, we consider 14 to be very rare in the natural area and 10 as very frequent. Only two of the catalogued taxa are considered as threatened (vulnerable) in Andalusia and only one is protected under Andalusian legislation (Regime of Special Protection).