Family Orchidaceae Rank Genus | ||
Similar Goodyerinae, Kreodanthus, Microchilus, Apostasioideae, Ligeophila |
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. Morphology of the pollinium shows that M. caribea is closely related to the modern genus Ligeophila.
References
Meliorchis Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA