Archive | 2019
A new and showy species of Lepanthes (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae) from North-Western Ecuador
Abstract
A new species of Lepanthes from north-western Ecuador is presented here. Lepanthes mashpica is similar to L. satyrica, with a long, descending, triangular process of the body of the lip but different in the simple and acute appendix versus the vertically bilobed appendix of L. satyrica. The species was found growing in several locations of Mashpi Reserve, a low-land cloud forest close to Quito. rEsumEn. Se presenta aquí una nueva especie de Lepanthes del noroeste de Ecuador. Lepanthes mashpica es similar a L. satyrica, con el cuerpo del labelo largo, descendente y triangular pero se diferencian en el apéndice simple y agudo del labelo en L. mashpica comparado con el apéndice verticalmente bilobado en L. satyrica. La especie se encontró creciendo en varias localidades dentro de la Reserva Mashpi, un bosque nublado de tierras bajas cercano a Quito. kEyworDs / PaLaBras cLaVE: Ecuadorean orchids, Lepanthes mashpica, Lepanthes satyrica, orquídeas del Ecuador, Mashpi Reserve, Reserva Mashpi doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/lank.v19i2.38773 Received 09 May 2019; accepted for publication 15 August 2019. First published online: 27 August 2019. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivs 3.0 Costa Rica License. Introduction. New species of Lepanthes Sw. are discovered each year at the orchid rich country of Ecuador (Dodson 2004, Baquero et al. 2018, Tobar et al. 2018, Baquero 2018, Thoerle & Hirtz 2015). The genus, with more than 1,100 species, is one of the largest in the Orchidaceae (Karremans 2016). The species of Lepanthes are recognized by the ramicauls enclosed by lepanthiform sheaths, flowers with transversely expanded petals with two or three lobes, a complex lip (with some exceptions) with a body connecting a pair of blades which normally embrace the column, and a very small structure at the base of the lip called the appendix (Luer 1996). The appendix is present in species which are pollinated by small gnats under the pseudo-copulation syndrome where the male insects confuse the structures with the female genitalia and pollinate the orchids under the attempt to copulate (Blanco & Barboza 2005). Some species have lips with simple structures and without appendixes. Such is the case of species like Lepanthes calodictyon Hook., or the recently discovered L. kayii Baquero (Luer 1996, Baquero 2018). Other species of Lepanthes have complex lips with appendixes but also other unique structures of the lip. Lepanthes ollaris Luer & R.Escobar has a body of the lip greatly dilated and saccate into a pot-like structure, L. menatoi Luer & R.Vázquez and L. ricina Luer & Daltrӧm have lips with the inner surface of the blades with curtains of long pubescence covering the column (Luer & Thoerle 2011). Some species have a body with a long protruding, descending process like Lepanthes satyrica Luer & Hirtz from Ecuador. A species discovered in 2016 and described here has also a long descending process from the body of the lip similar to what is seen in Lepanthes satyrica. The new species was found growing in low-land cloud forest of Mashpi Reserve from north-western Ecuador, Pichincha Province. The Mashpi Lodge, built in the heart of the Mashpi Reserve, has no previous research concerning orchids. The new species presented here is an example of how little is known of the orchids from Mashpi Reserve.