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.
 
 Keywords: Ecuadorean orchids, Lepanthes mashpica, Lepanthes satyrica, Mashpi Reserve

Three new endemic species of Lepanthes (Orchidaceae, Pleurothallidinae) from the highlands of Ecuador

“…Pleurothallidinae Lindl., with over 12,000 names published and around 5,100 currently accepted species, is the largest orchid subtribe worldwide (Karremans 2016). Lepanthes Sw. is one of the most diverse genera of the subtribe, and the estimated number range between 1,100 and 1,200 species (Larsen et al 2018;Baquero et al 2019;Bogarín et al 2020), accounting for more than 20% of the species (Karremans 2016). Lepanthes is restricted to the Neotropics, ranging from the Antilles and southern Mexico through the Andes south to Bolivia, with a few species known from Brazil (Luer and Thoerle 2012;Larsen 2014).…”

“…The largest number of species is concentrated in the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru (Damian and Larsen 2017;Bogarín et al 2020), but an important number of species is also distributed in Costa Rica, Panama (Salazar and Soto-Arenas 1996;Bogarín et al 2020). In Ecuador, this genus includes about 350 species, of which 240 are considered endemic to the country (Dodson and Luer 2011;Baquero et al 2019). Nevertheless, their richness is far from being fully inventoried, as new species are continuously being discovered and described as the country's forests continue to be explored (Thoerle and Hirtz 2015;Baquero 2018;Baquero et al 2018;Tobar et al 2018;Zambrano and Solano 2019).…”

A new gold-colored Lepanthes (Pleurothallidinae: Orchidaceae) from Southeast Ecuador

“…Lepanthes Sw. is one of the mega-diverse genera of Pleurothallidinae orchids with more than 1100 species. In Ecuador, more than 300 species of Lepanthes are known (Luer 1996, Thoerle & Hirtz 2015, Karremans 2016, Baquero 2018, Tobar et al 2018, Baquero et al 2019, Zambrano & Solano 2019. The species of Lepanthes have 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 which has been called the "appendix" (Luer 1996).…”