identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
7038ABE084815EC689ABF6400F8D9BCE.text	7038ABE084815EC689ABF6400F8D9BCE.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Dracula aguilarii Baquero, M. M. Jimenez & Iturralde 2026	<div><p>Dracula aguilarii Baquero, M. M. Jiménez &amp; Iturralde sp. nov.</p><p>Figs 1, 2, 3</p><p>Diagnosis.</p><p>Dracula aguilarii is most similar to Dracula hirtzii Luer in having large, cream-colored, suffused with brown-reddish, and sepals with acute apices, but differs by its narrowly obovate, obtuse leaves (vs. elliptic, acute), densely pubescent sepals (vs. microscopically pubescent to glabrous), a broad, rounded, concave sepaline cup that includes the mentum and extends from the connate sepals onto the base of the dorsal sepal (vs. narrow, longitudinal mentum without additional sepal depression), shorter sepaline tails, the transversely elliptic hypochile (vs. oblong), and the smaller, transversely subquadrate epichile (Table 1, Figs 4, 5).</p><p>Type.</p><p>Ecuador • El Oro: Near Balsas, 1212 m, 13 April 2017, L. Baquero 3142 (holotype: QCNE!) .</p><p>Description.</p><p>Epiphytic herb, erect, caespitose, large up to 30 cm long. Roots slender, 0.6 mm in diameter. Ramicauls erect, slender, 1.0– 1.4 cm long, enclosed by 2–3 loose, tubular sheets. Leaf erect, narrowly obovate, 20–27 cm long (including an indistinct petiole), 3–4 cm wide, thinly coriaceous, carinate abaxially, apex obtuse. Inflorescence a successively flowering raceme, born on a sparsely bracted, pendent, slightly verrucose peduncle, 15–20 cm long from the ramicauls; floral bract tubular, 8–10 mm long; pedicel 16 mm long. Ovary green suffused with blood-red, 5 mm long, slightly verrucose, round to slightly ribbed in cross-section; Sepals cream-colored suffused with brown-reddish toward the margins, densely pubescent, covered by brown-red warts and papillae adaxially, cream-colored with brown-red carinae abaxially; dorsal sepal ovate, 3.5 × 2.3 cm, connate to the lateral sepals for 9 mm, concave basally and convex towards the apex, apex acute, contracted into an erect, brown-red, slender tail, 3.4–6.0 cm long; lateral sepals oblique, ovate, 3.6 × 2.2 cm, concave basally and convex toward the apex, connate for 2.3 cm to form a broad, rounded sepaline cup, 8 mm deep, which extends from half of its length from the connate sepals, including the slightly deeper mentum underneath the lip, toward the base of the dorsal sepal; apex acute, contracted into tails similar to the dorsal sepal, 3.5–6.0 cm long. Petals cream-colored, suffused with orange toward the margins and marked with red-brown at the middle and on the adaxial side of the apex, cartilaginous, subpandurate, 4 × 2.3 mm, apex bivalved, brown-red, obtuse, rounded, papillose between the valves, the inner lamina slightly erose, the outer lamina recurved. Lip white with rose, suffused with orange, spathulate, 8.9 × 5.2 mm; epichile light rose, transversally subquadrate, 4.6 × 5.2 mm, concave, apex rounded and inflated, margins slightly involute and toothed, with three primary, orange lamellae and multiple, radiating, branching, elevated, rose suffused with orange secondary lamellae perpendicular to the primary lamellae; hypochile transversely elliptic, 4.3 × 2.5 mm, with erect, marginal, rounded angles, cleft centrally, base flexibly hinged to the column-foot, concave. Column white suffused with yellow, stout, semiterete, 4 mm long with 4 microscopic denticles at the apex. Anther cap white, 1.5 mm long. Pollinia 2, yellow, 1 mm long. Fruits and seeds not observed.</p><p>Eponymy.</p><p>Named for Mario Aguilar, farmer, and orchid enthusiast from El Oro, with an extraordinary talent for finding rare orchids in nature, who first spotted the new species in the field.</p><p>Distribution and ecology.</p><p>Dracula aguilarii is currently known from three localities in El Oro Province, southwestern Ecuador, at elevations of 900–1200 m (Fig. 6).</p><p>The species grows epiphytically on old, moss-covered trees, from the base of the trunk up to about 4 m above the ground. Nearby, other Dracula species such as D. cordobae and D. woolwardiae were observed (Fig. 8). Several Pleurothallidinae ( Orchidaceae) were also found growing sympatrically with D. aguilarii, including Platystele alucitae Luer, P. caudatisepala (C. Schweinfurth) Garay and Specklinia colombiana (Garay) Pridgeon &amp; M. W. Chase.</p><p>Conservation assessment.</p><p>Dracula aguilarii is known from three locations: the original site near Balsas and two additional sites approximately 4 km and 10 km to the north (Fig. 6). It has an estimated area of occupancy (AOO) and extent of occurrence (EOO) of 12 km 2 (Fig. 6).</p><p>The cloud forests of the El Oro Province represent some of the last remnants of this ecosystem in southwestern Ecuador. According to GAD El Oro (2019), only about 6 % of the province retains moderately preserved humid forests. Satellite imagery (Google Earth Pro) and field observations show strong habitat fragmentation, consistent with Hermes et al. (2017), who describe the region as comprising small, isolated forest patches surrounded by extensive agricultural lands and pastures, with most remaining forests being young secondary stands or selectively logged.</p><p>All known populations of Dracula aguilarii occur in small, highly fragmented forest remnants. The most serious plausible threat defining “ locations ” is rapid forest clearing for cattle pastures, such that a single clearing event would affect most or all individuals within each remnant patch. Additional threats include illegal harvesting due to a persistent demand for new Dracula species among orchid collectors in Ecuador (Yeager et al. 2020).</p><p>We recommend classifying D. aguilarii as Endangered (EN) under criteria B 1 ab (iii) + 2 ab (iii), based on an EOO &lt;5000 km 2, AOO &lt;500 km 2, number of locations &lt;5, and inferred decline of quality of habitat (Hermes et al. 2017 and pers. obs.).</p><p>Additional specimen examined.</p><p>Ecuador • El Oro: Vía a Piñas, 957 m, 14 April 2017, flowered in cultivation at La Chilca, Luis E. Baquero LB 3143 (QCNE!) .</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/7038ABE084815EC689ABF6400F8D9BCE	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Pensoft via Plazi	Baquero R., Luis E.;Jiménez, Marco M.;Iturralde, Gabriel A.	Baquero R., Luis E., Jiménez, Marco M., Iturralde, Gabriel A. (2026): Dracula aguilarii (Orchidaceae, Pleurothallidinae), a new species from southwestern Ecuador and the first confirmed location for Dracula soennemarkii. PhytoKeys 273: 281-297, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.273.182821
0CD73288F7605C40AE3F5863E6F0B9C4.text	0CD73288F7605C40AE3F5863E6F0B9C4.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Dracula soennemarkii Luer & Dalstrom	<div><p>Dracula soennemarkii Luer &amp; Dalström, Harvard Papers in Botany, 17 (2): f. 11. 2012.</p><p>Type.</p><p>Ecuador, s. loc., purchased from Ecuagenera, Gualaceo, Ecuador as Dracula woolwardiae, flowered in cultivation at Halmstad, Sweden, J. Sönnemark, July 2011, S. Dalström 3506 (Holotype: W; Isotype: MO).</p><p>Specimen examined.</p><p>Ecuador • El Oro: Vía a Piñas, 1271 m, 13 April 2017, Luis E. Baquero, LB 3138 (QCNE!) .</p><p>Conservation assessment for D. soennemarkii .</p><p>Dracula soennemarkii is known from a single location, located 3 km from the second D. aguilarii locality (Fig. 6). Its AOO is 4 km 2. This species is subject to the same threats described for D. aguilarii, especially rapid forest clearing for pastures and illegal harvesting.</p><p>We recommend classifying D. soennemarkii as Critically Endangered (CR) under criteria B 2 ab (iii), based on an AOO &lt;10 km 2, number of locations = 1, and inferred decline of quality of habitat (Hermes et al. 2017 and pers. obs.).</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0CD73288F7605C40AE3F5863E6F0B9C4	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Pensoft via Plazi	Baquero R., Luis E.;Jiménez, Marco M.;Iturralde, Gabriel A.	Baquero R., Luis E., Jiménez, Marco M., Iturralde, Gabriel A. (2026): Dracula aguilarii (Orchidaceae, Pleurothallidinae), a new species from southwestern Ecuador and the first confirmed location for Dracula soennemarkii. PhytoKeys 273: 281-297, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.273.182821
