identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
5EB123AB4D3A539FBBE3ECFAF63CC509.text	5EB123AB4D3A539FBBE3ECFAF63CC509.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Pleurothallis pembertonii M. F. Monteros & Mark Wilson 2026	<div><p>Pleurothallis pembertonii M. F. Monteros &amp; Mark Wilson sp. nov.</p><p>Figs 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 a</p><p>Holotype.</p><p>Ecuador • Carchi, Reserva Dracula, 1965 m, 3 August 2021 (coordinates omitted for conservation reasons; detailed data on the herbarium type specimen). Marco F. Monteros, MFM 217 (holotype: QCNE!) .</p><p>Diagnosis.</p><p>Pleurothallis pembertonii is most similar in appearance to P. forceps-cancri but differs in its oblong-subsigmoid petals (vs. elliptic-subsigmoid); sagittate-trilobed, attenuate lip, 5.0 × 2.5 mm (vs. triangular-trilobed lip, narrowly obtuse, 2.5–3.0 × 2.0– 2.5 mm), and a reniform glenion at the base of the lip (vs. an orbicular glenion).</p><p>Description.</p><p>Plant epiphytic, caespitose, medium-sized herb up to 12 cm tall; Roots slender ca. 0.5 mm in diameter. Ramicauls terete, suberect, slender, 7–8 cm long, 1 mm in diameter, provided with a 2 cm long tubular sheath at the base, papyraceous. Leaf suberect, coriaceous, rigid, sessile, elliptic-ovate, long-attenuate 5.0–6.0 × 1.5–2.0 cm. Inflorescence, a single-flowered coflorescence, arising from the apex of the ramicaul and surrounded by a reclining, brown, papyraceous spathaceous bract when mature. Pedicel yellow-green, terete, 5 mm long. Ovary straight, canaliculate, 3 mm long. Flower sepals and petals vinaceous, the lip light purple with pale yellow lobes. Dorsal sepal glabrous, concave, ovate-lanceolate, long-attenuate, 16–17 × 3.0 mm, 3 - veined. Lateral sepals connate into an ovate-lanceolate, long-attenuate synsepal, concave at the base, 19–20 × 5.0 mm, 4 - veined. Petals descending in the natural position, oblong, oblique, subsigmoid, apex long-attenuate to acuminate, margins sparsely to densely ciliate, 16 × 3.0 mm, 3 - veined. Lip sagittate-trilobed, 5.0 × 2.5 mm, the midlobe attenuate, the lateral lobes erect, rounded; glenion reniform, bearing two low, slightly verrucose, subparallel keels extending from the base to near the middle of the lip; base semi-reflexed; hinged to the base of the column. Column dark purple, semiterete, ventrally vesiculate, with prominent margins, stigma apical, bilobed, 1.2 × 1.5 mm. Anther cap broadly ovate, rose to pale yellow, 1.0 × 0.5 mm.</p><p>Additional material examined.</p><p>Ecuador • Carchi, Reserva Dracula, 1965 m, 10 July 2024. Marco F. Monteros, MFM 350 (paratype: QCNE!) . Ecuador • Carchi, Reserva Dracula, 1970 m, 10 July. Marco F. Monteros, MFM 351 (QCNE) . Ecuador. Carchi, Reserva Dracula, 1970 m, 10 July 2024. Marco F. Monteros, MFM 352 (QCNE) .</p><p>Eponymy.</p><p>This species is named in honor of biologist Robert Pemberton, who contributed to the expansion of the Dracula Reserve and the protection of the orchid’s habitat.</p><p>Phenology and flower variations.</p><p>Plants of Pleurothallis pembertonii were observed flowering in situ in July and August. The flowers exhibit moderate variation in size, posture, and curvature of the floral segments (Fig. 3). The dorsal sepal ranges from nearly straight to distinctly arcuate or subsigmoid, and the degree of floral opening varies from widely spreading to more narrowly arranged. Flower coloration varies from deep vinaceous to lighter reddish tones, occasionally with yellowish hues toward the center of the flower. Nevertheless, the principal diagnostic characters remain stable throughout the population, including the oblong-subsigmoid petals, the sagittate-trilobed lip, the reniform glenion, and the pair of low, slightly verrucose, subparallel keels extending from the basal margins of the glenion toward the middle of the lip.</p><p>Distribution, habitat, and ecology.</p><p>Pleurothallis pembertonii grows epiphytically in lower montane cloud forests of northwestern Ecuador, at approximately 1970 m elevation, in a biologically important sector of the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot. According to the Ministerio del Ambiente del Ecuador (2013), the habitat where the species occurs corresponds to the Lower Montane Evergreen Forest of the Western Andes of Ecuador (BSBN 04), an ecosystem characterized by high humidity, persistent cloud cover, a complex vertical forest structure, and exceptional levels of plant endemism. This ecosystem forms part of the western Andean foothills, a biogeographic transition zone between the Tropical Andes and the Chocó biogeographic region, where steep environmental gradients and historical isolation have promoted high rates of diversification and microendemism (Yánez-Muñoz et al. 2024).</p><p>The species is currently known only from the Dracula Reserve, a privately protected area managed by Fundación EcoMinga, which safeguards extensive tracts of well-preserved and highly threatened cloud forest. The occurrence of P. pembertonii within this reserve highlights the importance of private conservation initiatives in maintaining habitat continuity and protecting narrowly distributed epiphytic species.</p><p>Pleurothallis pembertonii occurs sympatrically with several other epiphytic orchid species characteristic of mature cloud forests, including Dracula trigonopetala Gary Mey. &amp; Baquero, Lepanthes quadricornis Luer &amp; R. Escobar, L. tortilis Luer &amp; Hirtz, L. longiacuminata Luer &amp; Hirtz, L. tulcanensis Baquero &amp; Monteros, Platystele finleyae Monteros, E. Restrepo &amp; Baquero, and Pseudolepanthes bihuae Monteros &amp; Baquero (Luer and Escobar 1994; Luer 2005; Meyer et al. 2012). This assemblage reflects the high structural complexity and ecological stability of the forest and underscores the strong specialization of Pleurothallidinae to microhabitats associated with old-growth trees, sustained humidity, and minimal disturbance.</p><p>Preliminary conservation status.</p><p>The type locality and potential distribution area of Pleurothallis pembertonii are situated within the Mira – Mataje binational basin in northwestern Ecuador, a region of pronounced environmental heterogeneity and microendemism within the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot (Yánez-Muñoz et al. 2024). Despite more than a decade of intensive botanical exploration in northwestern Carchi and adjacent areas (Baquero and Iturralde 2017; Baquero and Zuchan 2017; Jiménez et al. 2018; Wilson et al. 2018; Baquero 2019; Baquero and Monteros 2020; Monteros et al. 2021, 2022), P. pembertonii is currently known from a single locality, indicating an extremely restricted distribution consistent with patterns observed in other narrowly endemic Pleurothallidinae.</p><p>The AOO, estimated at 4 km 2, falls within the limits of the Critically Endangered (CR) category under subcriterion B 2 (IUCN 2024). The principal threat to P. pembertonii is the extensive overlap of its habitat with active and proposed mining concessions, which promote forest loss, fragmentation, road opening, and long-term alteration of the humid microclimatic conditions essential for epiphytic orchids (Roy et al. 2018; INABIO 2025). Land-use change in montane forests has been shown to cause severe declines in vascular epiphyte richness and abundance, particularly affecting orchids that depend on mature host trees and stable humidity regimes (Krömer et al. 2025). Based on its extremely restricted AOO, occurrence at a single location, and the continuing decline in habitat quality due to ongoing anthropogenic pressures, Pleurothallis pembertonii is recommended for assessment as CR B 2 ab (iii) (IUCN 2024).</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/5EB123AB4D3A539FBBE3ECFAF63CC509	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	Monteros, Marco F.;Holcomb, Kevin;Baquero, Luis E.;Wilson, Mark	Monteros, Marco F., Holcomb, Kevin, Baquero, Luis E., Wilson, Mark (2026): Pleurothallis pembertonii (Orchidaceae, Pleurothallidinae), a new species from northwestern Ecuador in the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hotspot. PhytoKeys 276: 297-312, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.276.190930
