Meliorchis Temporal range: Miocene
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Asparagales |
Family: | Orchidaceae |
Subfamily: | Orchidoideae |
Tribe: | Cranichideae |
Subtribe: | Goodyerinae |
Genus: | †Meliorchis S.R.Ramírez, Gravend., R.B.Singer,. C.R.Marshall & N.E.Pierce |
Species: | †M. caribea
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Binomial name | |
†Meliorchis caribea S.R.Ramírez, Gravend., R.B.Singer,. C.R.Marshall & N.E.Pierce
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Meliorchis caribea is an extinct, early to middle Miocene orchid known only from a packet of pollen attached to the wing of a stingless bee, Proplebeia dominicana, trapped in Dominican amber. It was the first fossil orchid ever described, and allowed for a revised estimate of the time of origin of the Orchidaceae to the Mesozoic.[1] Morphology of the pollinium suggests that M. caribea is closely related to the modern genus Ligeophila.