Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

The plant that was first called “Odontoglossum wyattianum” by Gurney Wilson was exhibited at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on January 3, 1928. No official description was ever published and no type specimen was ever designated, or has surfaced, hence making this distinct species a taxonomic ‘ghost’. The taxonomic validation of Odontoglossum wyattianum is made here through the designation of a holotype, together with a diagnosis, a brief taxonomic history and comparison with similar and closely related species.

An annotated list of the original material of 183 Orchidaceae species of the Bennett’s collection at the Forestry herbarium of the University Agraria La Molina is presented. The annotated list includes collection data, information on locations of the type material in other herbaria and the currently accepted name for each species. Seventy two lectotypes are designated; and a new species and a new combination are validated under the current code of nomenclature (International Code of Nomenclature -Melbourne Code).

A new species of the orchid genus Pterichis, P. herrerae, and a new variety of P. habenarioides, P. habenarioides var. costaricensis, are described and illustrated based on Costa Rican material. Information about new Costa Rican records of P. pauciflora and P. parvifolia is provided. An updated key to Costa Rican species of Pterichis is presented.

Eight new records of orchids for the Honduras flora are reported here. The new records are: Goodyera major (Santa Bárbara department), Lophiaris × oerstelurida (Atlántida), Maxillaria reichenheimiana (El Paraíso), Microchilus killipii (Cortés), Mormodes nagelli (Ocotepeque), M. sotoana (Choluteca), Specklinia spectabilis (Cortés), and Triphora debilis (Santa Bárbara). We provide photos of these species and their habitats, and a map for their known localities in Honduras.

What does the future hold for the Orchidaceae? Historically the family has been quite plastic and responsive to large-scale habitat transformations, perhaps none so dramatic as the changes experienced during the formation of the cordilleras of the Northern Andes and lower Central America. Coupled with the backdrop of global fluctuations in climate, the rapid rise of these mountains over the last 0.5-2 M years have fragmented habitats and changed climate locally. These mountains are one of the most biologically diverse regions of the planet and may have served as a species pump for the Caribbean and other regions of Central and South America. The development of such diversity occurred over a scale of tens of millions of years to perhaps just a few thousand. While the same processes of the past are likely operational now, the current rate of habitat change may be unprecedented outside asteroid or major meteor impacts as global climate change accelerates, human- altered landscapes spread, and shifts occur in land use. We expect the structure and composition of orchid floras to change as populations respond evolutionarily through adaptation, extinctions and immigrations. Certainly the total destruction of a habitat, whether caused by volcanic eruptions or strip mining, is sure to have dire consequences but resiliency may occur if refugia serve as seed sources for colonization in the event of habitat recovery. As most orchids occupy ephemeral habitats or at least substrates, their natural population behavior likely entails cycles of local colonization and extinction as metapopulations. Another component of change is the increasing number of orchids that have become naturalized after human assisted dispersal (intentional or not). These alien orchids have overcome constraints imposed by pollination and mycorrhizal requirements. Will natural or human-assisted range expansions overcome extinction losses? Will they be among those that become the genetic material for a new wave of adaptive radiations? Much depends on population variation, patterns of gene flow, and rates of change. The Orchidaceae have had a history of ecological resiliency and evolutionary flexibility, which provides some degree of assurance. But this is no excuse for complacency since without some form of intervention the pace of change underway may be more than what orchid populations can overcome.

Habenaria bicornis was first described in 1835 from Cuba and has only been known from that country and from a few records in Panama from the 1920s. Here we show that H. bicornis and H. goyazensis, known from Brazil and Guyana, are conspecific and that the species is distributed from Mexico to southeastern Brazil. Niche modeling and collection data indicate that this species has a preference for wet lowland savannas and its distribution is predicted to include most of the Neotropics with suitable habitats. The molecular phylogenetic analyses based on DNA sequences from the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and part of the plastid matK gene placed H. bicornis in an isolated position near the base of the Neotropical clade, although with low support. In terms of its morphology, its relationships are likewise not clear as there are no evident similarities between H. bicornis and the basal subclades or any other Neotropical subclade. Cytogenetic analysis indicated a basic chromosome number of x=21, similar to other basal Neotropical species. 

Charles Parish collected plants in Burma (now Myanmar) between 1852 and 1878. His orchid collections, both preserved and living plants, were extensive. He sent plant material and watercolour sketches to Sir William Hooker at Kew and living plants to the British orchid nursery of Messrs Hugh Low & Co. of Upper Clapton. H.G. Reichenbach obtained examples of the Parish plant material from Hugh Low and he visited Kew where he studied the Parish orchid specimens and illustrations and many of them were subsequently described by Reichenbach. His beautiful and accurate watercolour paintings of orchids were bound in two volumes and eventually came to Kew following his death. They have been extensively used by botanists such as Robert Rolfe, Victor Summerhayes, Gunnar Seidenfaden and Jeffery Wood when working on the orchid floras of the region. Parish’s life, collecting activities and collections are discussed her

Taxonomy of discrete groups of taxa within Pleurothallidinae is critical for a better understanding of species diversity, evolution and phylogenetics. This paper focuses on the taxonomy and systematics of the species related to Specklinia condylata in Costa Rica and Panama. The taxonomic history and its phylogenetic position are discussed. The group is treated as comprising five species, three of them proposed as new to science. Each taxon is described on the basis of living material and illustrated in a composite plate. Overall distribution, maps, derivation of name, notes on species ecology, natural variation and diagnostic features are presented for each taxon. A key to the species and a comparative table is given to aid species identification.

Cohniella amazonica (Orchidaceae, Oncidiinae, Trichocentrum-clade) a species in the Cohniella ascendens complex, from Amazonas, Venezuela, is herein newly described, illustrated, and characterized based on morphological characters. The new taxon is similar to C. nuda, from which it differs in the subquadrate- oblong lateral lobes of the labellum that are in the same plane as the central lobe, the 5-partite callus, the bipartite column wings, and the distribution range restricted to the northeastern portion of Amazonas, Venezuela. The conservation status of the new taxon is assessed as Data Deficient (DD) according to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) criteria. We provide a key and table of characters to diagnose the Cohniella ascendens species complex, a comparative figure, and a map showing the geographical distributions of the species in this group.