Monsoon Mysteries : From Hidden Orchids to Winged Spaghetti

🌧️ Monsoon Beauty Highlights India's Biodiversity 🌧️

The Coelogyne occultata Orchid - A Shy Mountain Siren

Family: Epidendrum
Sub-family: Epidendroideae
Species: Coelogyne occultata

And a related observation :

Found exclusively on elevations of 1830 to 3500 meters, this endangered beauty is also known as The Hidden Coelogyne. Resembling the hollow figure of a femme fatale, "Coelogyne" can be broken down into two parts etymologically - koilos meaning "hollow" and gyne meaning "woman". The "hidden" part of it's name alludes to it's small size and short inflorescence.

Infamous for their promiscuous nature, there exist upto 28000 species of wild orchids (and lets not even talk about cutlivars which number in the hundred thousands (I mean lakhs). That's ALMOST the number of moths that visit your room when you're trying to get a good night's sleep. These plants have come a long way from being used as medicines to cure ailments 4000 years ago to having a whole craze (orchidelirium) named after them in the 1800s!. Seems like India's Nature missed a chance and instead of Orchid Mania have gone with Beetle Mania.

While Morten Ross lead the way with his fantastic observations as part of Orchid Odyssey 2024

Observed & Identified by @morten
Location : West Kameng, IN-AR, IN India
Observed on: XX Jul, 2024
Morten Ross is in Instagram as mortenross

😈 Meanwhile another fun fact the Monsoon Beauty Volunteers keep finding - one rare orchid is not just parasitic but also grows and flowers (well almost) underground and maybe they should technically be called upside down flowers.

Heavens! Is that a Plume Moth?

Family: Pterophoridae
Sub-family: Pterophorinae
Species: XXXX

Commonly known as plume moths, these slender creatures are known for their narrow, airplane shaped wings. Their camouflage often involves resembling dry grass to avoid predators. At rest, these wings are tightly rolled but when they are spread, the plumes decide to go all out with their display. Think of it like cooking spaghetti - when you take it out of it's packing, it is one large entity but it fans out into a delicious dinner. These funky shaped Ts have a delicate and fragile flight. This fragility is akin to your father's ego. Perhaps you should bring this up with him as an actual problem someday and have a mature adult conversation over it.

But how is this weird neon-genesis evangelion shaped alien entity a moth?

To that, our bold volunteers at Monsoon Beauty reply:
Taxonomy does not change based on physical appearances. Your brother is still your brother if he (according to you) looks disfigured and ugly (be a little nicer to him, he's just 15 and going through puberty).

Observed by @hareeshaas
Location : Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, India
Identifier(s) : none yet
Observed on: 30th Jul, 2024

Hareesha AS blogs in Kannada,

Blog- "Aresanyasi": https://hareeshaas.wordpress.com/

and is on Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/as_hareesha/

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