Introduction
The genus Cylindrolobus Blume was first established in 1828.
Lindley treated Cylindrolobus as a section of Eria Lindl.
in 1859, this view was generally accepted by subsequent researchers
until the rise of molecular biology. Recent studies of Podochileae showEria s.l. is polyphyletic that needs generic reorganization.
Pridgeon et al. (2005) suggested that Cylindrolobus should be
subsumed into Callostylis Blume but its taxonomic position was
not supported in the later studies. Cylindrolobus was elevated to
genus status in Flora of China (Chen et al.
2009). Ng et al. (2018) redefined
the genus Eria s.l. by the phylogenetics analyses of Eriaand its related genera, Cylindrolobus extracted as a distinct
genus characterized by abbreviated inflorescences with one to several
flowers, usually with conspicuous bracts that are normally greater in
number than the flowers. In this study, we followed the latest
delimitation ofCylindrolobus, which
contains 79 accepted species and distributes from south China to
tropical Asia. (POWO 2023).
The Gaoligong Mountain is a biodiversity hotspot that links three global
biodiversity hotspots including the Himalayas, Indo-Burma and Mountains
of Southwest China (John et al. 2011). It is famous for its rich
biodiversity, complex ecosystems, and high concentration of endemic taxa
(Li and Li 2020). The Gaoligong
Mountain harbors one of the highest
orchid diversities in China.
There are more than 360 species of
orchids in 98 genera distributed
in this region, of which 86 species are endemic (Jin et al. 2009, Li and
Li 2020). From 2022 to 2023, we contacted field orchid surveys
in southwest China and found a
little-known species ofCylindrolobus in
Gaoligong Mountain,
northwest Yunnan. After careful
morphological investigation, we concluded that this species is new to
science. Besides, we collected its close species,C.
arunachalensis in Xizang and added detailed morphological description.