Myoxanthus punctatus (Barb.Rodr.) Luer (1982a: 49)

Rojas-Alvarado, Gustavo, Blanco, Mario A. & Karremans, Adam P., 2021, A taxonomic synopsis and morphological characterization of Myoxanthus (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae), Phytotaxa 507 (3), pp. 211-258 : 247-248

41. Myoxanthus punctatus (Barb.Rodr.) Luer (1982a: 49) (Fig. 17H–J)

Basionym: Chaetocephala punctata Barbosa Rodrigues (1882: 38) .

Homotypic synonyms: Pleurothallis chaetocephala Cogniaux (1896: 590) . Dubois-reymondia punctata (Barb.Rodr.) Brieger (1977: 43) .

TYPE:— BRAZIL. Minas Geraes: epiphytic in dry forest along the river Parahybuna , 670 m, Barbosa Rodrigues s.n. (holotype: lost; lectotype, here designated, illustration tab. 131, in Iconogr. Orchid. Bresil, vol. 3, at the Library of Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, cited as tab. 802 (unpublished) in Barbosa Rodrigues (1882: 38); copied and reproduced in black and white in Cogniaux (1896: tab. 117, fig. I) ; reproduced in colour in Sprunger et al. (1996: vol. 1: 189).

Pleurothallis seidelii Pabst (1975: 54) . Myoxanthus seidelii (Pabst) Luer (1982: 51) .

TYPE:— BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: near Marechal Floriano, flowered in cultivation, 19 June 1973, Seidel 1068 (holotype, HB).

Distribution: — Brazil.

Notes:— Luer (1992) reduced M. seidelii to the synonymy of M. lonchophyllus . However, after an “examination of fresh flowers from near the type-locality”, he later considered the two taxa distinct on account of the sepals being “pubescent within and the lip is bulbous at the apex” ( Luer 1997). Myoxanthus seidelii is clearly associated with M. lonchophyllus due to its apically hispidulous-spiculate lip, prominently featured in the original description and illustration. Here, M. seidelii is nonetheless considered conspecific with M. punctatus despite the apparent differences in the apical lobe of the lip. Even though the lip of fresh flowers of M. punctatus seem glabrous, with age and dehydration they become verrucose and in extreme cases spiculate. Examination of the type illustrations of both species, the description and illustrations provided in Luer (1997) and Chiron & Ximenes (2009) and other material attributed to these taxa show that one grades into the other. Other than the lip apex, we find no distinguishing features. As in the other species described by Barbosa Rodrigues for which the holotype has been lost, the illustration in his original publication of Chaetocephala punctata is here designated as lectotype.