Giant-spurred Solenangis, Solenangis impraedicta, is a new orchid species described by Garden scientists and collaborators from Madagascar. Credit: Marie Savignac
Key points:
- A newly discovered orchid species in Central Madagascar is related to Darwin’s famous orchid, but is a highly threatened species.
- Solenangis impraedicta has the third longest spur ever recorded among flowering plants, and the longest nectar spur of any known plant relative to flower size.
- Researchers have already initiated conservation measures, including ex situ cultivation and seed banking.
Researchers from the Missouri Botanical Garden have discovered and described a new orchid species in Central Madagascar with a record-setting nectar spur and close ties to the famous “Darwin’s orchid.” Unfortunately, the novelty species needs urgent conservation action, they say.
The flora of Madagascar is known for flowers with elongated floral tubes pollinated by long-tongued hawkmoths. The most famous of these species, Angraecum sesquipedale, is known as Darwin’s orchid, to pay tribute to Charles Darwin’s theory that the flower was pollinated on a not-yet-discovered moth with a long proboscis. Scientists described the large hawkmoth, Xanthopan praedicta, 41 years after his prediction.
The new study reveals an unexpected case of parallel evolution with Darwin’s orchid in the newly described giant spurred Solenangis impraedicta, whose nectar spur reaches 33 cm in length.
"The contrast between the little 2-cm flowers and the hyper-long nectar tube is mind-blowing,” said study co-author João Farminhão of the Coimbra University Botanic Garden.
Solenangis impraedicta has the third longest spur ever recorded among flowering plants, and the longest nectar spur of any known plant relative to flower size. It is the only new orchid species with such an extreme adaptation to hawkmoth pollination described since 1965.
Unfortunately, the newly discovered species is threatened by mining activities and potentially by poaching for the orchid trade. In addition to not revealing the exact location of the Solenangis impraedicta, the team from the Missouri Botanical Garden have already initiated conservation measures, including ex situ cultivation and seed banking.
“A precautionary approach is required when publishing such a spectacular new species. Wild populations must be protected and monitored,” said Tariq Stévart, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Africa and Madagascar program.