Telipogon crisariasae Baquero & Iturralde, sp. nov. (Figures 1–4).

Type:— ECUADOR. Sucumbíos: Road from El Playón to Guanderas, 3313 m, 0°38’1.91”N; 77°40’56.23”W, 6 January 2022, L. Baquero 3140 (holotype: QCNE!).

Telipogon crisariasae is more similar to Telipogon octavioi Dodson & R. Escobar (1993:238) but can be differentiated by the larger inflorescence of up to 11 cm long (vs. inflorescences up to 6 cm long), the flowers of 39–40 mm long (vs. flowers of 28–30 mm long), the rhomboid petals (vs. transversely ovate petals), the lip of 8.0 × 5.5 mm, (vs. lip of 4 × 4 mm), the cordiform callus (vs. sub-sagittate callus), and the sub-trapeziform stigmatic cavity (vs. suborbicular stigmatic cavity).

Description:— Plant epiphytic, shortly scandent, up to 12 cm in height (including the inflorescence). Roots 1.0– 1.5 mm in diameter, thick, cylindrical, basal. Stem inconspicuous, up to 5 mm long, laterally compressed, covered by two imbricate bracts. Leaves 4–11 cm long, 2–5, articulated, subcoriaceous; blade 3.5–8.0 × 0.9–1.2 cm, elliptic to narrowly sub-obovate, acute, slightly conduplicate, carinate abaxially. Inflorescence apical, racemose, 1–2 flowered opening in succession; peduncle 7–9 cm, flattened; rachis ancipitous; floral bracts 1.0 × 0.7 mm, triangular-ovate, conduplicate, acute, carinate abaxially, translucent. Ovary 25 mm long, triquetrous, winged, pedunculate. Flowers 4.0– 4.5 cm in diameter, non-resupinate. Sepals ovate to lanceolate, slightly concave, acute, yellow with dark red veins, 5-veined, undulated margins, carinate abaxially; dorsal sepal 20 × 7 mm; lateral sepals 17 × 6 mm, oblique. Petals 23 × 16 mm, rhomboid, yellow with pink and white towards the base and light red-brown reticulations, fleshy and obtuse base, shortly apiculate, reflexed at the apex, 10–12-veined, undulated margins, ciliolate to minutely ciliolate at the basal margin. Lip 19–20 × 18–19 mm, broadly ovate, slightly concave, yellow with pink and white towards the base and light red-brown reticulations, 21–23-veined, reflexed at the apex, ciliolate margins; callus 8.0 × 5.5 mm, cordiform, pink, obtuse at the base, sparsely pilose, with a longitudinal central ridge. Column 4 × 3 mm, sessile, clavate, with 3 tufts of setae on the dorsal surface; setae acicular, purple, up to 4 mm long. Stigma sub-trapeziform, thickened margins with three rounded processes, the margin opposed to the rostellum protruding 1 mm. Anther cap dorsal, cordiform. Pollinarium with two pairs of unequal pollinia, 2 mm long stipe, uncinate viscidium; Fruit capsule, ellipsoid, 3-winged.

Distribution and Ecology:— Plants of T. crisariasae have been found in evergreen montane forests, located above 3000 m, within and near the Guandera Reserve. The reserve is located in the northern-most part of the eastern Ecuadorian Andes, coded as BsAn01 according to the Ecosystem Classification System from Continental Ecuador, and presents a mean annual temperature of 6.4 °C and an average total annual rainfall of 1303 mm (Báez et al. 2013). Two additional specimens photographed within Guanderas Reserve by Geoff Gallice in September of 2015 and Arturo Baile in October 2018 (the photographs can be seen in Flicr.com) belong to the new species proposed here (Figure 5).

Etymology:— This species is named in honor of María Cristina Arias, an Ecuadorian moviemaker, sound engineer and nature lover, who first spotted the plant used here as the type specimen.

Conservation status:— Telipogon crisariasae is a rare species and locally restricted to the highland forest remnants of the western slope of the eastern Andes in northern Ecuador. The Guandera Reserve, which represents the core area where T. crisariasae occurs, does not belong to the Ecuadorian System of Protected Areas (SNAP). Hence, the Ecuadorian government can grant mining concessions within this Reserve, which would negatively impact the area and all the biodiversity that it holds (Baquero et al. 2020, Guayasamin et al. 2021). At the moment, T. crisariasae is only known from a few plants without information available on populations. Thus, its conservation status must be classified as data deficient (DD) according to the IUCN (2022) criteria.

Taxonomic Discussion:— Telipogon crisariasae seems to be more similar T. octavioi Dodson & Escobar (1993: 238) (Figure 3), as both share the general vegetative and inflorescence morphology (e.g., acaulescent, flattened inflorescence, triquetrous ovary); furthermore, both also present yellow flowers with red-brown reticulations and a well-developed callus, which is only partially attached to the lip. Nevertheless, T. crisariasae can be easily differentiated by a larger inflorescence of up to 11 cm long (vs. inflorescences up to 6 cm long in T. octavioi), its flowers of 39–40 mm long (vs. flowers of 28–30 mm long in T. octavioi), its rhomboid petals (vs. broadly ovate petals in T. octavioi), a lip of 8.0 × 5.5 mm, (vs. lip of 4 × 4 mm in T. octavioi), a cordiform pink callus (vs. a sub-sagittate brown callus in T. octavioi), and a sub-trapeziform stigmatic cavity (vs. suborbicular stigmatic cavity in T. octavioi). Telipogon crisariasae is also similar to the Ecuadorian T. isabelae Dodson & Hirtz (in Dodson 2004: 1183), T. jimburensis Dodson & Escobar in Dodson & Dodson (1989: pl. 591), and T. thomasii Dodson & Escobar in Dodson & Dodson (1989: pl. 597), as they are also characterized by having an epiphytic sympodial habit, present the lip and petals with reticulations, and also present a cordiform to subcordiform callus. However, T. crisariasae is differentiated by the rhomboid petals (vs. broadly ovoid in T. isabelae, T. jimburensis, and T. thomasii), the lip size of 19–20 × 18–19 mm (vs. a lip of 11 × 20 mm in T. isabelae, 18 × 30 mm in T. jimburensis, 20 × 30 mm in T. thomasii), and a pink callus (vs. a dark red-brown callus in T. isabelae, T. jimburensis and T. thomasii). A summary comparing some morphological charaters between T. crisariasae and the other a forementioned species is provided in Table 1. Finally, T. crisariasae is also rather similar to the Colombian species T. povedanus Ortiz (2010: 183) and T. uribei Ortiz (2010: 184); they all are sympodial and present a pink coloration at the base of the petals and lip, also a cordiform pink callus. Nevertheless, T. crisariasae is differentiated by the rhomboid petals (vs. broadly ovate in T. povedanus, broadly elliptic in T. uribei), the petal size of 23 × 16 mm (vs. a lip of 13 × 12 mm in T. povedanus, 10 × 8–9 mm in T. uribei), and the lip size of 19–20 × 18–19 mm (vs. a lip of 13 × 15 mm in T. povedanus, ca. 10 × 12 mm in T. uribei).