Promoted
Orange Lepanthes sp. - closeup, La Isla Escondida, Colombia
Quite a beautiful and intact lepanthes (miniature orchid) found by our guide Manuel. Species ID is in progress but the first signs are not that promising. My go-to expert can normally ID almost any lepanthes directly from memory but this one does not ring a bell yet. He suggests it belongs to a group of species similar to Lepanthes agglutinata, with a good chance of this one being undescribed.
I contacted two other experts and have posted it in a lepanthes group, will update this if/when I know more.
No species identified
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By fchristant
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Uploaded Jan 8, 2019. Captured Oct 20, 2018 16:17.
comments (7)
"A tiny, orange jewel on a leaf! Lepanthes is a large genus of epiphytic orchids that are found in the neotropics. Little is known about many of the species in this genus, except that they have tiny, vibrant flowers that are short-lived. They have non-rewarding, complex flowers that rely on sexual deception for pollination. Amazingly, the orchids produce female fungus gnat pheromones that lure males in. The males then "mate" with the orchid, thinking that it is a female of its own species. During the male's passionate act, he unwittingly pollinates the orchid. This fascinating, yet deceptive, form of pollination is called pseudocopulation. The fungus gnat receives no reward in exchange for his pollination services. In fact, the males become so sexually aroused that they deposit their sperm in the flowers, and then they don't attempt to copulate with any other flowers or fungus gnats. So, the males essentially believe that they have successfully mated, and thus lose the opportunity to have a genuine mating experience. {Spotted in Colombia by JungleDragon founder, Ferdy Christant} #JungleDragon" Posted 4 months ago