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May I share some more photos.

We went to Krabi, hometown of Paph.exul.
the intention was to see exul in its natural habitat.
we have been here last year in March. at that time, we focused on Paph.leucochilum mainly.

this time, we was lucky. we found a lot of exul insitu.
most of them are located quite high from sea water level, about 15-30 m up.
the reason might be the one that grow lower has been collected. :(


let's see.

164058_10150368966310230_802645229_17046400_3836907_n.jpg




leucochilum
179027_10150368966705230_802645229_17046404_3248466_n.jpg


then exul
can find?
179660_10150368966960230_802645229_17046411_2277752_n.jpg


180273_10150368967145230_802645229_17046417_739730_n.jpg


180586_10150368967255230_802645229_17046419_6197712_n.jpg


fishermen
168688_10150368967395230_802645229_17046422_75359_n.jpg



more exuls

179862_10150368967520230_802645229_17046423_3923524_n.jpg


165349_10150368967655230_802645229_17046424_6758677_n.jpg


163291_10150368967785230_802645229_17046425_6504648_n.jpg


167629_10150368967980230_802645229_17046428_7464334_n.jpg
 
another healty one
164096_10150368968505230_802645229_17046433_6325683_n.jpg




only one in bloom during the trip
paph.niveum
168923_10150368968760230_802645229_17046437_6949318_n.jpg


167113_10150368968925230_802645229_17046440_7537718_n.jpg


Staurochidlus sp.
163805_10150368969085230_802645229_17046442_6875256_n.jpg


Cymbidium aloifolium
163661_10150368969230230_802645229_17046443_5866864_n.jpg


exul
165551_10150368969430230_802645229_17046444_1947049_n.jpg





end with this pic
180541_10150368969965230_802645229_17046449_3926836_n.jpg
 
Photos were taken by telephoto lens + zoom in computure.
Sorry for low quality picture.

All island paphs are found at very high level.
You may need some cranes to hang you in a basket to take a photo closely.

Btw, I found the tropic is quite peaceful.
If someone fund me for fly/bee watching, I would love to.
:D
 
Don't feel sorry for the quality of the pictures they are great. Seeing pictures of orchids in their natural habitat is always a treat.

No one is expecting studio quality shots :)
 
Thanks for the tour! :clap::clap::clap:
I agree with Marc, pics are just fine!
 
Your photos are just fine, Poozcard! I love the river photos. What river is it? It reminds me of the Li River in China, with its karst formations.
 
Your photos are just fine, Poozcard! I love the river photos. What river is it? It reminds me of the Li River in China, with its karst formations.

It is a part of Andaman sea, facing Indian Ocean.
Krabi province, Thailand, hometown of exul, leuco, niveum.
 
I like those shots. Seeing how exposed these plants are, people should appreciate how bright and hot this species can take it. :clap:

Poozcard you can't scale those cliffs by hand:poke::poke:
 
leuco/niveum/exul are found together in the same area as you may have seen.
This makes natural hybrids between leuco and niveum as they both are blooming in the same period.
H.Koopowitz called it Paph. x greyi.

This ecology is special.
Day temp rises up to 35-40c while night time is about 27-30c
Windy but very high humidity.

Each small cilff island is separated by sea water which sometimes makes plants from each island distinct from the island next to.
It might be because the pollinator could not travel around under strong wind.
 
leuco/niveum/exul are found together in the same area as you may have seen.
This makes natural hybrids between leuco and niveum as they both are blooming in the same period.
H.Koopowitz called it Paph. x greyi.

This ecology is special.
Day temp rises up to 35-40c while night time is about 27-30c
Windy but very high humidity.

Each small cilff island is separated by sea water which sometimes makes plants from each island distinct from the island next to.
It might be because the pollinator could not travel around under strong wind.


Nice photos,and also thanks for the interesting climatic data!
 
Each small cilff island is separated by sea water which sometimes makes plants from each island distinct from the island next to.
It might be because the pollinator could not travel around under strong wind.

This is an astute observation Poozcard, but generally a strong wind causes what would normally be small home range flying insects to get dispersed farther than they would if it was their choice.

Another possibility to consider with pollinator species is just their normal home range size.

Some species are territorial and just don't travel very far regardless how strong the wind is. Some species are more nomadic, and probably more susceptible to wind.

In college I looked at bee pollinators of plants in the desert. There were local native bees that were territorial, and only had a handful of bushes in their territory that they tended intensely (increasing odds of self pollination, and lots of small patches of local plant variants). The introduction of European honey bees, which are colonial, travel large distances, and will go to just about any flower they come across) where homogenizing the plant populations by spreading pollen from all the clumps of bushes that all used to be guarded by the territorial native bees.
 
Maybe the pollinators don't fly?

That would be very special for a paph. Especially one that looks so close to insigne, villosum, and gratrixianum.

The bug you found in the pouch was a winged insect wasn't it?

The hover flies I've seen are strong /fast fliers. Most of them look like wasps.

Better get your repeling gear ready Poozcard!!!
 
In this environment on these cliffs what is more important to the evolution of the species, the flower form or the strength of vegetation?

Floral form.

Note 3 other paph species with 2 separate growth habits. Brachy and Paph subgenera plant habits.

But what keeps them from getting hybridized into 1 homogenous paph species? If there wasn't enough differnce in floral form the pollinators would randomly hit all three species and mix them all up (pollinators don't look at leaves to tell a paph from a brachy).

It's not illogical that all paphio types all came from a basic widespread barbigerum ancestor. Wind dispersal of seed may have pushed this ancestor (or maybe by then a version of insigne) onto Krabi. Those with exposure tolerance survived and those that didn't are dead. But without pollinator recognition and isolation those early survivors would eventually die out and the toughness not passed on to survivng generations.

On the one hand I do have microhabitat differences in my GH from one side to another, but on the other hand its only 12X12 so how much can I get. I grow both insigne and exul (not on the same bench though). But general plant tolerance overlaps a fair amount. Both grow on limestone cliffs one just cooler than the other.

Evolution is based on the sum of all environmental presures, which include both the abiotic and biotic influences. Yes you would need a tough insigne to live on Krabi, but once it got there, why didn't the flower stay as insigne instead of drifting to the form of exul? Pollinator recognition?
 
Floral form.

Note 3 other paph species with 2 separate growth habits. Brachy and Paph subgenera plant habits.

But what keeps them from getting hybridized into 1 homogenous paph species? If there wasn't enough differnce in floral form the pollinators would randomly hit all three species and mix them all up (pollinators don't look at leaves to tell a paph from a brachy).

Maybe each species blooms at different seasonal periods so the two species are not in flower at the same time?
 
In this environment on these cliffs what is more important to the evolution of the species, the flower form or the strength of vegetation?

They are relative bigger when compare with ones those are found in mainland, both the leaves and flowers too.
 
Maybe each species blooms at different seasonal periods so the two species are not in flower at the same time?


Agree.
exul blooms during Jan-Feb
niveum+leuco during April-May

So natural hybrid between exul and other 2 there is not seen. I never seen/heard any of it.

Moreover, it may not be the same pollinator.
niveum may have the same pollinator with leuco, but not exul.

Shall we look at the exit door for pollinator getting out from the pouch? There are 2 holes next to staminode/column.
I think the holes are one way by the paphs, to select which insect shoud be a pollinator.
 

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