Dracula aguilarii (Orchidaceae, Pleurothallidinae), a new species from southwestern Ecuador and the first confirmed location for Dracula soennemarkii

The genus Dracula comprises more than 130 species of epiphytic orchids, with its highest diversity in the northern Andes of Colombia and Ecuador. Here, we describe Dracula aguilarii sp. nov. from El Oro Province in southwestern Ecuador. The novelty resembles D. hirtzii in its large, cream-colored flowers suffused with brown, and shortly pubescent sepals, but differs in having narrowly obovate, obtuse leaves, a deep, broad, rounded sepaline cup, and shorter sepaline tails.

We also report the first confirmed locality for D. soennemarkii, previously described without collection data. Preliminary conservation assessments based on IUCN Red List criteria indicate that D. aguilarii is Endangered (EN) and D. soennemarkii is Critically Endangered (CR) due to their extremely restricted distributions and ongoing habitat loss.