''Myrmecophila'' is a genus of plants belonging to the family

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

. It is native to southern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> Species in this genus are either

epiphytic An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

lithophytic Lithophytes are plants that grow in or on rocks. They can be classified as either epilithic (or epipetric) or endolithic; epilithic lithophytes grow on the surfaces of rocks, while endolithic lithophytes grow in the crevices of rocks (and are als ...

in their growth habit. Their slightly scented flowers are produced on pole-like growths that extend upwards from 1 to 4 meters high and take up to 4 months to develop. Several of the ''

Schomburgkia ''Schomburgkia'' was a genus of plants belonging to the family Orchidaceae. This genus was named for Richard Schomburgk, a German botanist who explored British Guiana during the 19th century. Former species of this genus were either epiphytic ...

'' species were transferred into the genus ''Myrmecophila'' by

Robert Allen Rolfe Robert Allen Rolfe (1855, Wilford, Nottinghamshire – 1921, Richmond, Surrey) was an English botanist specialising in the study of orchids. For a time he worked in the gardens at Welbeck Abbey. He entered Kew in 1879 and became second assistant. ...

in 1917. The name ''Myrmecophila'' is a derivative of the word ''

myrmecophile Myrmecophily ( , ) is the term applied to positive interspecies associations between ants and a variety of other organisms, such as plants, other arthropods, and fungi. Myrmecophily refers to mutualistic associations with ants, though in its m ...

'' and refers to the

symbiotic Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...

relationship with colonies of ants that are usually found living in the large, hollowed-out, banana-like

pseudobulb The pseudobulb is a storage organ found in many epiphytic and terrestrial sympodial orchids. It is derived from a thickening of the part of a stem between leaf nodes and may be composed of just one internode or several, termed heteroblastic and ...

s. An opening in the base of each pseudobulb serves as an entrance for the ants which harvest nectar from the peduncles and flowers and forage on other plants in the community. The ants associated with ''

Myrmecophila tibicinis ''Myrmecophila tibicinis'' is an orchid in the genus ''Myrmecophila''.Govaerts, R. ''et al.'' 2018. A common name for the species is the trumpet player's Schomburgkia. It was first described by Bateman in 1838, as ''Epidendrum tibicinis'', and a ...

'' pack many of the pseudobulbs with debris that includes other dead ants, a variety of insects, pieces of plant material, seeds and sand. ''Myrmecophila tibicinis'' directly utilizes minerals of the organic debris ("garbage dumps") deposited by the ants inside the hollow pseudobulbs. Since the open-canopied trees of the tropics can often be nutrient poor habitats, a small input of nutrients from insects can have a significant effect on plant survival and growth rates. ''Myrmecophila tibicinis'' can grow quite well in the absence of ants, though it is quite rare to find an uninhabited plant. The species of ant responsible for forming colonies in ''Myrmecophila tibicinis'' are as follows: ''

Brachymyrmex ''Brachymyrmex'' is a genus in the ants subfamily Formicinae. The genus can be recognized by the combination of having nine antennal segments (fewer than most ants) and the petiole concealed by the gaster in dorsal view. They are sometimes called ...

'', ''

Camponotus planatus ''Camponotus planatus'', known generally as the compact carpenter ant or short carpenter ant, is one of three Camponotus species that is polygynous (having more than one queen), it also is a species of ant in the family Formicidae.Sharkey M.J. (2 ...

'', ''

Camponotus abdominalis ''Camponotus atriceps'', previously referred as ''C. abdominalis'', is a species of carpenter ant, endemic to the Americas. Habitat It has been found in a variety of moist and forested habitats, including wet lowland and rainforest, tropical rai ...

'', '' Camponotus rectangularis'', and ''

Crematogaster brevispinosa ''Crematogaster brevispinosa'' is a species of ant in tribe Crematogastrini. It was described by Mayr Mayr is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Andrea Mayr (born 1979), Austrian female long-distance runner * Ernst May ...

'', ''

Monomorium ebenium ''Monomorium'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. As of 2013 it contains about 396 species. It is distributed around the world, with many species native to the Old World tropics. It is considered to be "one of the more important grou ...

'', '' Paratrechina longicornis'', ''

Zacryptocerus maculatus ''Cephalotes'' is a genus of tree-dwelling ant species from the Americas, commonly known as turtle ants. All appear to be gliding ants, with the ability to "parachute" and steer their fall so as to land back on the tree trunk rather than fall t ...

'', and ''

Ectatomma tuberculatum ''Ectatomma tuberculatum'' is a Neotropical species of ant in the subfamily Ectatomminae. Common in the Neotropics, the species is found from Mexico to Argentina. It is a host to the related social parasite ''Ectatomma parasiticum'', the only k ...

''.

Species

Species accepted as of June 2022:

Natural hybrids

References

Botanical Society of America

The World Checklist of Monocotyledons

External links

* *

Belize Botanic Gardens

* [https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://nature.jardin.free.fr/orchidee/schomburgkia.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=3&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmyrmecophila%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN Jardin L'Encyclopédie]
Royal Horticultural Society: Registration of Orchids

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1151122 Laeliinae Laeliinae genera Epiphytic orchids Ants

Species

Natural hybrids

See also

References

External links