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 Pabstiella Brieger & Senghas

The affinities of Pabstiella were first recognized by the Brazilian
orchidologist Guido Frederico João Pabst (1914–1980). In his
Orchidaceae Brasilienses (1975), he gathered under Pleuroth-
allis sect. Fractiflexae a group of Brazilian species close to P.
mirabilis Schltr., mostly characterized by the zig-zag inflores-
cence and the flowers provided with an extended column foot,
resulting in a distinctly long chin. In 1976, the German botanist
and geneticist Friedrich Gustav Brieger (1900–1985), active in
Brazil since 1933, and his German colleague, the recognized
botanist Karlheinz Senghas (1928–2004), honored Guido Pabst
giving generic rank to the group under the name of Pabstiella
and transferring to it the sole P. mirabilis, which tipify the
genus. As a discrete group deserving generic recognition, the
fractiflex, long-chined Brazilian Pleurothallis received scarce
attention by botanist until the advent of molecular systematics.
In 2001, Alec M. Pridgeon and collaborators recognized in
their DNA-based phylogenetic analysis of Pleurothallidiane that
Pleurothallis mentosa Cogn., P. mirabilis and P. tripterantha
Rchb.f. form a clade sister to Pleurothallis and Stelis, which the
authors recognized as Anthereon, without noticing that Pab-
stiella had already been proposed for one of the species of that
particular clade. The genus Gyalanthos, proposed that same
year by Dariusz L.Szlachetko and Hanna B. Margonska, and also
typified by P. mirabilis, is similarly superflous and illegitimate.
Pridgeon’s concept of Anthereon/Pabtsiella greatly expanded
the original concept by Pabst, and the inclusion of P. tripter-
antha and P. mentosa (that João Barbosa Rodrigues had
described as a species of Lepanthes!) made the genus difficult
to diagnose on the basis of a morphological ground. More
recently, Adam Karremans and collaborators shown that the
genus Ronaldella Luer (typified by Pleurothallis determanii
Luer) was also belongs to Pabtsiella when DNA sequences are
compared. Today, Pabtsiella is probably the morphologically
more heterogeneous group within the Pleurothallidinae. Since
Fabio de Barros revived Pabtsiella in 2002, the diversity of the
genus has grown to the considerable size of more than 140
species, particularly from Brazil, which likely represents the
dispersion center for the group.
Apparently, species of Pabstiella are of broad distribution,
some of them ranging from Costa Rica south to Bolivia, Brazil,
and even to Argentina. Nevertheless, it is possible that species
circumscriptions could change under closer scrutiny of the
involved taxa throughout their alleged range.
In Costa Rica, three species of Pabstiella are recorded. Pabstiel-
la aryter (Luer) F.Barros (morphologically allied to Ronaldella)
was originally described from central Peru, and its distribution
extends to the north up to Costa Rica. Here it is a rarely found
species, so far documented by only two collections, both from
the northern extents of the Talamanca mountain chain, where
plants have been collected in the wet premontane forest at
1300–1800 meters. Pabstiella tripterantha is based on a
specimen collected in the Andes of Venezuela by Hermann
Wagener (1823– 1877), which has subsequently been record-
ed throughout most of the American tropics, from Costa Rica
south to Brazil and Argentina. Carlyle A. Luer treated it as the
sole species of his Pleurothallis sect. Tripteranthae. According
to Wagener’s original sketch, the name applies to a species with
autogamous, almost trigonous flowers densely flecked by dark
purprle-brown. In Costa Rica, it is known from the Turrialba Vol-
cano, where it was collected by August R. Endrés (1838–1874),
and both the watersheds of the Cordillera de Talamanca, at
1200–1800 meters of elevation. Another species, previously
treated in Costa Rica under a broad concept of P. tripteran-
tha, is distinct enough to deserve specific recognition. It was
originally described by Fritz Kränzlin as Masdevallia aperta on
the basis of a plant by the indefatigable Endrés, who collected
and illustrated it from the region of Dota, on the Pacific slopes
of the Talamanca chain. This taxon still lacks a valid name in
Pabstiella, which it is therefore provided here:
Pabstiella aperta (Kraenzl.) Pupulin, comb. nov.
Basionym: Masdevallia aperta Kraenzl., Repert. Spec. Nov.
Regni Veg. 17: 430. 1921. Type: Costa Rica. [San José: Dota,] Am
Río Pascita [Paquita] grande, A.R. Endres 652 (holotype, W).
Probably the more common of the Pabstiella species in Costa
Rica, P. aperta, is known from both the watersheds of the Cor-
dillera de Talamanca, where it has been recorded from the rain
tropical forest as low as about 500 meters, to the premontane
wet forests over 1800 meters of elevation.
Interestingly, two species of Pabstiella form natural popula-
tions in the secondary forest area at the Lankester Botanical
Garden.

Pabstiella aperta (Kraenzl.) Pupulin

Turrialba: Tuís, Cien Manzanas, 9º51’25”N 83º33’47”W, ca. 950 m, 26 May 2003, flowered in cultivation at Lankester Botanical Garden,
F. Pupulin 4799, R. & K. Dressler, J. Aguilar, G. Gerlach, P. Kindlmann, H. León-Paéz, S. Pugh-Jones & E. Serrano.
Photographed: 11 August 2005. Reproduction ratio: 2:1.

809
Franco Pupulin. Lankester Botanical Garden, University of Costa Rica

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 Pabstiella aryter (Luer) F.Barros
Cartago: El Guarco, San Isidro, Vara de Roble, camino a El Empalme, Southern Panamerican Highway, km 46-47, 9°45’34.9” N 83°58’13.5” W, 1850 m, 22 October 2005,
flowered in cultivation at Lankester Botanical Garden, R. Gómez, R.L. Dressler, A. Karremans, F. Pupulin, A. and S. Rambelli s.n.
Photographed: 4 September 2007. Reproduction ratio: 1:1.

Right

Pabstiella tripterantha (Rchb.f.) F.Barros

Puntarenas: Coto Brus, Sabalito, Zona Protectora Las Tablas, 13 km NE of Lucha, Sitio Coto Brus, finca Sandí “El Capricho”, 8°56’46.1” N 82°44’30.9” W, 1778 m, 6 October 2010,
flowered n cultivation at Lankester Botanical Garden, F. Pupulin 7992, D. Bogarín, R.L. Dressler and M. Fernández.
Photographed: 15 January 2013. Reproduction ratio: 4.5:1.

810

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 000

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