Help identifying this mounted orchid

[Day Nieto]

It looks like a giant cattleya to me , what do you guys think ? i found it at the nursery yesterday , the roots are not attached yet and is because the log doesn't have any crevices ,is a ficus log, i can't find any cork slab here in Mex , i will get one as soon as i'm able to go to the States .
Thanks in advance

[kip]

I would guess Schomburgkia or Myrmecophila, but it's impossible to tell without flowers

[trinigirl]

I would say Schomburgkia also.

[Day Nieto]

Thanks for the info , i also bought another one in a basket , i ended up dividing it because it was to big and had a few dead bulbs in the center .

[kmarch]

kip's right. It's a Myrmecophila. I'd have to double check to be sure, but I believe Myrmecophila is the accepted genus for this group of orchids now.

[kip]

I can't really tell from the picture. Myrmecophila ("ant loving") species have hollow pseudobulbs, which get colonized by ants. Schomburgkia usually have solid pseudobulbs, although some will become hollow with age.

[kmarch]

Myrmecophila and Schomburgkia are the same and the currently accepted name for them is Myrmecophila.

[Day Nieto]

Thank you all for the reply , it is a myrmecophila alright , it has been colonize by ants , i wonder if i should do something about it or let it be , i'm afraid to use an insecticide and disturbed the exposed roots .
Any advise on that?

[jerrymeola]

I agree with Kip

My reading of the papers is that only the hollow bulb schomburgkia were moved to myrmecophila which literally means 'bearer of ants'. You would not be able to scientifically justify the name change if it was not consistent.

[Brooke]

Do they even recognize Schomburgkia now? We have the moyobambae and rosea but they have been moved to Laelia.

Brooke

[willowbanks]

Hey guys, Schomburgkia as a genus is no longer the accepted name, it has been broken up to Myrmecophila for all hollow bulbs and the rest to Laelia.

Day Nieto, in the wild the ants that live in Myrmecophila protect the plant from other ants. Your plant in captivity is a different story, I bump them off with insecticide at the recommended rate and it won't harm the roots.

Bill

[Day Nieto]

Ok , thanks, i will do that tomorrow morning

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by willowbanks

Hey guys, Schomburgkia as a genus is no longer the accepted name, it has been broken up to Myrmecophila for all hollow bulbs and the rest to Laelia.

I didn't know that here was a proposal to move some Schomburgkia to the genus Laelia but I checked it out and willowbanks is correct. The genus Schomburgkia has been split between Myrmecophila and Laelia.