What pollinates Epidendrum melanoporphyreum in the wild?

[rhodo]

My Epidendrum melanoporphyreum has been in bloom for several days now, and I'm fascinated with this plant more than any other in my possession.

Does anyone know what pollinates this orchid in nature? It is to my understanding that this orchid mimics insects to attract them.

[tmoney]

cool flowers! remind me of our old epi capricornum. while i don’t know what the polllinator is, based on flower morphology i would guess some type of moth with a good sized tongue. that’s a total guess tho, hope somebody has some actual info!

[Roberta]

Looks to me more like it might be hummingbird-pollinated since the lip isn't much of a "landing pad" but is colorful so would tend to attract them. Hummingbirds pollinate a lot of Epidendrums - since they hover they don't need to land. (Insect-pollinated flowers tend to need a place for the insects to land.) Butterflies are another "suspect". They could likely hang on to that lip if they needed to, and have long tongues to reach into the flower. And they also like color. Some orchids do look like females of insect species and get pollinated by pseudo-copulation, but this one doesn't look insect-like. (Look up Trichoceros to see some New World orchids that look very bug-like. Of course the European terrestrials such as Ophrys also look very much like bees.) Generally the moth-pollinated flowers are green/white, making them more visible at night.