Meliorchis

Meliorchis caribea
Temporal range: 15 Ma

Miocene

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Cranichideae
Subtribe: Goodyerinae
Genus: Meliorchis
Species: M. caribea
Binomial name
Meliorchis caribea

Meliorchis caribea is an extinct, early to middle Miocene orchid known only from a packet of pollen attached to the wing of a stingless bee, Proplebeia dominicana, trapped in Dominican amber. It was the first fossil orchid ever described, and allowed for a revised estimate of the time of origin of the Orchidaceae to the Mesozoic.[1] Morphology of the pollinium shows that M. caribea is closely related to the modern genus Ligeophila.

See also

References

  1. Santiago R. Ramírez, Barbara Gravendeel, Rodrigo B. Singer, Charles R. Marshall & Naomi E. Pierce (30 August 2007). "Dating the origin of the Orchidaceae from a fossil orchid with its pollinator". Nature. 448 (7157): 1042–1042. doi:10.1038/nature06039. PMID 17728756.
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