Tmesipteris is restricted to certain lands in the Southern Pacific, notably Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia.

In New Zealand this hanging epiphyte is common in the warm temperate rain forests of both main islands, where it can normally be found as short spiky dark-green fronds (10–15 cm long), often with lighter bag-like sporangia at the bases of some of its "leaves".

The fronds emerge directly from the fibrous root-mats which clad the trunks of mature tree ferns such as Dicksonia and Cyathea.

Tmesipteris is from the Greek language, meaning a "cut fern", referring to the truncated leaf tips.

[1] Species include: Nitta et al. 2022[7] and Fern Tree of life[8] T. gracilis T. sigmatifolia T. truncata T. elongata T. horomaka T. obliqua (Long fork-fern) T. tannensis This fern-related article is a stub.