New species of orchid discovered in Nagaland’s Longleng district

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Dec. 5 (EMN): A new species of orchid called “Gastrochilus pseudocalceolaris” was discovered from Yingyushang Mountain in Longleng district, Nagaland.

The new species was collected by researchers of Kohima Science College (KSC), Nagaland.

Moaakum, Assistant Professor of Botany Department, KSC, shared that they encountered the orchid during their general exploration on April 7, 2022; they then collected a specimen and consulted with the experts, thus leading to its discovery.

He opined that the new orchid species might be endemic to the region, as it has not been discovered in other places yet.

An article about the new species of orchid authored by Santanu Dey and Moaakum, Botany department, KSC; Limamanen Phom, Zoology department, Sao Chang College, Tuensang; Avishek Bhattacharjee, Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India, Howrah; and Kazhuhrii Eshuo, Dhanamanjuri University, Imphal West, stated that the new species collected from Mt. Yingyushang, Longleng district, is ‘morphologically most similar to Gastrochilus calceolaris, but differs in having much shorter stem and features of labellum. The types have been stored to CAL for future reference,’ it stated.

It added that Gastrochilus pseudocalceolaris is morphologically allied to Gastrochilus calceolaris, but differs in having much shorter stem and a labellum-epichile without long, papillose hairs on its adaxial surface, and epichile with shortly erose margins.

It said that flowering and fruiting were both observed in April, and the habitat of the species is on tree trunks and branches in subtropical semi evergreen forest at 1854 m elevation.

The specific epithet is derived from the Greek ‘pseudo-‘ (false) and after ‘Gastrochilus calceolaris’ referring to its close similarity with Gastrochilus calceolarism, it stated.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, government of India, also shared about the discovery in a tweet, “Gastrochilus pseudocalceolaris a new species of orchid discovered by scientists of Central National Herbarium @bsi_moefcc #Howrah in collaboration with researchers of #KohimaScienceCollege, Nagaland University and Dhanamanjuri University, Imphal #Manipur.”