Nasa colanii Dostert & Weigend, Revista Peru. Biol. 13(1): 73 (2006).

Fig. 1A, B

Type.

Peru. Amazonas: Provincia Bagua, Cordillera Colan SE of La Peca, ca. 3000 m, 25 Sep 1978, P. Barbour 3573 (holotype: MO! [acc. # 2796329]; isotype: USM [acc. # 000462]) .

The Nasa triphylla -group also includes two subscandent taxa with reflexed trichomes from montane rainforest, namely Nasa aequatoriana (Urb. & Gilg) Weigend and Nasa colanii . Nasa aequatoriana is well documented from Ecuador (Weigend 2000), while Nasa colanii was known only from a single Peruvian collection from 1978 (Dostert and Weigend 1999; Croat et al. 2021). Nasa colanii is probably the one species reported from the most inaccessible region of all the species here discussed - the Cordillera de Colán in northern Peru, near to the Ecuadorean Border.

In the field, Nasa colanii differs from vegetatively similar Nasa aequatoriana by its much shorter, pale greenish-white petals (Fig. 1A, B). Additionally, the nectar scales of N. colanii are yellow and white with red transversal stripes, as in other species of the Nasa triphylla complex, but much paler with a very narrow red band only (Fig. 1A).

Nasa colanii was found on creek nanks in rocky soils in a cloud forest ecosystem located in the buffer zone of the Cordillera de Colán National Sanctuary (5°37'50.96"S, 78°15'20.84"W) at an elevation of 2605 m, near the Refugio Lechucita. This taxon had previously only been reported once in 1978 from the same region, possibly from the same locality ( Rodríguez and Weigend 2006; Wong Sato et al. 2021). This species has probably not been collected since, due to its apparent narrow endemism and a lack of scientific exploration of this area ( Rodríguez and Weigend 2006; C. Olivera, pers. comm., 2021).

Additional specimens examined.

Peru. Amazonas: Provincia Utcubamba, Distrito Cajaruro, buffer zone of the Cordillera de Colan National Sanctuary, ca. 2605 m, 5°37'50.96"S, 78°15'20.84"W 21 Dec 2019, A.A. Wong Sato 53 (MOL) .

Photographic record.

Peru. Amazonas: Provincia Utcubamba, Distrito Cajaruro. Buffer zone of the Cordillera de Colán National Sanctuary; observation by A. A. Wong Sato, 21 Dec 2019 (Wong Sato 53, MOL): https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/143281337.