Abstract
We revise and characterize the group of species close to Lepanthes guatemalensis. The group comprises eight species in Costa Rica. Three new species are described and illustrated. Lepanthes durikaensis is distinguished by the non resupinate flowers, the lateral sepals ovate with the apical tails diverging, the lower lobe of petals lanceolate-subfalcate, up-curved and the pinkish column. Lepanthes leporina is recognized by the resupinate flowers with yellow sepals, faintly suffused with red, the petals violet, the lip orange, the bifid synsepal with the apices of the lateral sepals not forming tails, the lateral sepals subequal to the dorsal sepal, the petals markedly convex with the upper lobe elliptic-lanceolate and the lobes of the lip connivent at apex. Lepanthes sanctiorum is characterized by the small plants less than 1.1 cm tall, the short peduncle less than 10 mm long, the petals as wide as the lip length and the blades of the lip distinctly diverging at apex. All the species are described and illustrated on the basis of Costa Rican material. A key to the species of the group is provided.
Highlights
Species of the large genus Lepanthes Sw. have proven to be difficult to arrange into smaller taxonomic units
Lepanthes durikäensis is distinguished by the non resupinate flowers, the lateral sepals ovate with the apical tails diverging, the lower lobe of petals lanceolate-subfalcate, up-curved and the pinkish column
Alta Verapaz: Ainal, 4500 pp., Jul. 1886, H. von Tuerckheim 967) to describe L. gibberosa. Ames compared his new species to L. guatemalensis from which it supposedly differs by the lateral sepals “being protuberant on the inner margin near the base of a caudate tip” (Ames, 1923)
Summary
Species of the large genus Lepanthes Sw. have proven to be difficult to arrange into smaller taxonomic units. Brachycladium (Luer) Luer, Oreophilus W.E.Higgins & Archila, Penducella Luer & Thoerle)], Draconanthes, ranked at generic level as Draconanthes (Luer) Luer (1996), Marsipanthes, and Lepanthes, mainly distinguished by several characters of the petals and the lip. Within the most diverse subgenus Lepanthes, he recognized two sections, sect. This section constitutes a mostly Andean group including over 700 species provided with lobed lip, the lateral lobes modified into blades and the mid-lobe, if present, modified into an appendix (Luer, 1996). The fact that most species of Lepanthes were described in the framework of floristic studies, with little or no interest directed toward a phylogenetic context, often without any reference to interspecific relationships, makes more difficult to recognize groups of closely related taxa, which probably share common, recent evolutionary histories. Schweinfurth identified it as Lepanthes costata (Mutis, 1969), and it was not until 2010 when Lisa Thoerle and Father Pedro Ortiz recognized the
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