A long - lose mintage of orchid had scientist scrambling over the summit of Mount Nok on Waigeo – a remote island in West Papua , Indonesia – in the hopes of track it down . The successful expedition not only rediscover the sorry beautyDendrobium azureum , but also slip up upon a newfangled - to - science species that was shiny red-faced .
The blue orchid had n’t been seen in 80 years , prompt a team conjoin by Kew orchidologist Dr André Schuiteman to go in lookup of it in 2020 . In their hunting forD. azureum , they summited the out volcano Mount Nok on Waigeo , which is the largest of the four main island in the Raja Ampat archipelago .
Their efforts were rewarded as the volcanic hunt club yielded not one but two orchidaceous plant discoveries : the blue orchid was awake and well , and they begin a 2nd new - to - science species to boot .
The newly discover orchid mintage was related to the downhearted one as a fellowDendrobium sp . orchid , but instead of azure flowers , it had bright scarlet I . It was namedDendrobium lancilabium , subspecies wuryae , in honour of Hj . Wury Estu Handayani Ma’ruf Amin for her contributions to the conservation of orchid and other local flora in West Papua state .
It link nine other orchid race to be named from Indo - China and Southeast Asia since December 2022 by Schuiteman and his local partners . The hunt for “ lost ” specie likeD. azureumis something that scientists worldwide are doing for a host of animal , works , and fungi species . Success story in recent times includebioluminescent fairy lanternsandtap - trip the light fantastic toe spider , but finding a lost and new species together is a dual profits in the context of clime change .
“ It is imperative now , more so than ever , that we do everything in our power to go out into the field with our pardner and work out which species of plants and fungi we have n’t give a scientific verbal description yet , ” said Dr Martin Cheek , Senior Research Leader in RBG Kew ’s Africa Team in a release sent to IFLScience . “ Without doing so , we risk lose these species without ever even knowing they exist . ”
“ That is not to say the prospect is entirely bleak . It is an incredibly exciting time to be a scientist but even as we make these rattling new discoveries , we must remember that nature is under threat , and we have the power to do something about it . ”
See Kew’stop 10 new speciesof 2023 .
The study is put out inOrchideen Journal .
