TY - JOUR AU - Wilson, Mark AU - Zhao, Kehan AU - Hampson, Hailey AU - Chang, Matt AU - Reina-Rodríguez, Guillermo A. AU - Niessen, Andrea PY - 2019/08/09 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Hidden in plain sight: a new species of <i>Pleurothallis</i> (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae) from Colombia previously misidentified as <i>Pleurothallis luctuosa</i> JF - Lankesteriana: International Journal on Orchidology JA - LIJO VL - 19 IS - 2 SE - Articles DO - 10.15517/lank.v19i2.38584 UR - https://www.revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/lankesteriana/article/view/38584 SP - 77–91 AB - <div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><em>Pleurothallis tenuisepala</em>, a new species in subsection <em>Acroniae</em>, is described and compared to <em>Pleurothallis luctuosa</em> with which it has previously been confused. While the two species are superficially similar, they can be very easily distinguished by the size of the flowers, which are approximately 60 mm long in <em>P. tenuisepala</em> versus approximately 29 mm long in <em>P. luctuosa</em>, or the length of the sepals, which are approximately four-times the length of the petals in <em>P. tenuisepala</em> versus less than twice the length of the petals in <em>P. luctuosa</em>. The two species can also be discriminated by their nuclear internal transcribed spacer (nrITS) sequences. <em>Pleurothallis tenuisepala</em> occurs on Isla Gorgona off the Pacific coast of Colombia and on the western slopes of the Cordillera Occidental of the Colombian Andes, while <em>P. luctuosa</em> is restricted to the Cordillera de Tilarán of Costa Rica. Labellar micromorphology of both species is discussed in relation to possible pollination mechanisms.</p></div></div></div> ER -