Muscarella megalops occurs in a relatively small area in south-western Ecuador in provinces of Azuay , El Oro and Loja at elevations of around 1600-2600m (Parsons and Gerritsen, 2013). In nature, it is a rare species (Luer 2006). Fortunately, this fascinating miniature species is fairly available and popular in cultivation. The genus name of this species have been changed a couple times because the systematics of Pleurothallids has been revisited extensively in recent years. This species was originally described as Pleurothallis in 1982 by Luer. Subsequently, Pridgeon & Chase (2001) and Pridgeon (2005) placed it under Specklinia . Luer (2006) proposed that it should be under Muscarella . A molecular phylogeny based on nrITS and matK clearly supports Luer's proposition (Karremans et al, 2016), and it shows that ramping Muscarella species into genus Specklinia is not a good idea (see the following figure of phylogeny). Karrema...
Plants, Orchids, and Life in North