Specklinia echinata (L.O.Williams) Soto Arenas & Solano, Icon. Orchid.

Karremans, Adam P., Albertazzi, Federico J., Bakker, Freek T., Bogarín, Diego, Eurlings, Marcel C. M., Pridgeon, Alec, Pupulin, Franco & Gravendeel, Barbara, 2016, Phylogenetic reassessment of Specklinia and its allied genera in the Pleurothallidinae (Orchidaceae), Phytotaxa 272 (1), pp. 1-36 : 27

Specklinia echinata (L.O.Williams) Soto Arenas & Solano, Icon. Orchid. ( Mexico) 5–6: t. 670. 2002 (2003).

Bas. Pleurothallis fueg var. echinata L.O.Williams, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 33(1): 120. 1946.

Specklinia fuegi (Rchb.f.) Solano & Soto Arenas, Icon. Orchid. 5–6: x. 2002 (2003).

Bas. Pleurothallis fuegi Rchb.f., Beitr. Orchid. -K.C.Amer. 97–98, t. 10. f. 11–15. 1866.

Specklinia turrialbae (Luer) Luer, Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 95: 264. 2004.

Bas. Pleurothallis turrialbae Luer, Lindleyana 6(2): 105, 106–108, f. 1991.

Specklinia subgen. Sylphia (Clade B). The inflorescence is successive, with one flower per inflorescence open at once. Flowers are resupinate, transparent whitish to greenish, diversely suffused with purple. The lateral sepals are divergent, free, and long-apiculate. Petals are obtuse. The lip is unguiculate. Pollinia lack caudicles and a viscidium.

This little group contains five species found in Costa Rica and Panama. A single species extends northward into Guatemala and Mexico. The type species of the polyphyletic Sylphia, S. turrialbae , is included in this clade. Together with the morphologically similar S. absurda , S. echinata and S. fuegi they form a natural group. The type of the monotypic Cucumeria , S. cucumeris , is included in this subgenus based on DNA data. However it is different morphologically from all other members. Future studies might reveal it does not belong here. Nevertheless, all of these species are morphologically “typical” within Specklinia , even S. cucumeria , which resembles S. lentiginosa .