Conflicting info about which Tribe contains the subtribe Oncidiinae

[RosieC]

I'm rather confused about info I've found online.

One place seems to say that Oncidiinae is a subtribe of Maxillarieae and another says it is a subtribe of Cymbidieae.

Anyone know which one is right under the current thinking. Is this one of those things which has changed?

[WhiteRabbit]

Hmmm - that's interesting - I don't know - but I believe I have heard of intergeneric crosses of Oncidiinae and Maxillarieae. Not sure on the specifics tho.
Will be interested in finding out

[ronaldhanko]

Originally Posted by RosieC

I'm rather confused about info I've found online.

One place seems to say that Oncidiinae is a subtribe of Maxillarieae and another says it is a subtribe of Cymbidieae.

Anyone know which one is right under the current thinking. Is this one of those things which has changed?

Rosie,
Perhaps the confusion comes over the fact that the Tribe Maxillareae and the Tribe Cymbidiaea are both part of what Dressler calls the Cymbidioid phylad. I've not seen the Oncidinae classified in the Tribe Cymbidieae, though.

[RosieC]

Thanks Ron,

I was looking at Wikipedia and this page claims to be based on Dressler's work. It puts it in Cymbidiaea.

Wikispecies puts it in Maxillarae though.

I always try and check anything I read on a Wiki site but have not been able to find other info on this.

I'm finding I'm quite interested in this so I probably need to get hold of Dressler's book even though it's been superseeded by later changes.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by ronaldhanko

Rosie,
Perhaps the confusion comes over the fact that the Tribe Maxillareae and the Tribe Cymbidiaea are both part of what Dressler calls the Cymbidioid phylad. I've not seen the Oncidinae classified in the Tribe Cymbidieae, though.

I had a look at recent (2009) scientific publications notably in the journal 'Annals of Botany' and it would appear that the Oncidiinae are a subtribe of the Cymbidieae. I have even found a phylogenetic tree from 2003 showing this. An article from 2000 puts the Oncidiinae in the Maxillareae though. I'm looking for more information in other journals.

As more and more orchids DNA is being sequenced, a lot of stuff is being shuffled around. It may be that there has been a change in tribes.

[RosieC]

Thanks Camille, it does look from what you have seen as though it's been moved. I will keep my notes showing Cymbidieae for now.

I'm finding that I'm really interested in understanding the clasification of orchids and when I look at pics I like to understand how they are related to others.

It's really difficult when things keep moving though

[camille1585]

Rosie, apparently Dressler's classification is not longer the current one. In 2003 Chase published an article "DNA data and Orchidaceae systematics: a new phylogenetic classification." in which the entire classification was gone over again, in view of recent genome analysis. This is the classification now in use in articles published after that date. I managed to get the phylogenetic tree. It appears that Maxillareae is now a subtribe.

[RosieC]

Thanks Camillie,

I will have to try and get my head arround the info in the tree when I get home and I can compare it to my other notes.