LANKESTERIANA 11(3): 207—221. 2011. MATING SYSTEMS IN THE PLEUROTHALLIDINAE (ORCHIDACEAE): EVOLUTIONARY AND SYSTEMATIC IMPLICATIONS EDUARDO LEITE BORBA*, ARIANE RAQUEL BARBOSA, MARCOS CABRAL DE MELO, SAMUEL LOUREIRO GONTIJO & HENRIQUE ORNELLAS DE OLIVEIRA Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Federal de MinasGerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31270-901, Brazil * Corresponding author:
[email protected] ABSTRACT. We developed a project addressing the determination of the reproductive system through experimental pollinations of species in the major genera representing all major lineages of Pleurothallidinae in order to determine occurrence of self-incompatibility in the subtribe, in which group it has possibly appeared for the first time, and how many times it has evolved. Additionally we surveyed the floral biology of species ofOctomeria , a genus with morphological characters typical of bee-pollinated flowers that was previously regarded as mellitophilous. At the moment, all but one of the species studied in selected large genera of the major lineages (Acianthera, Anathallis, Masdevallia, Octomeria, Specklinia, and Stelis) are self-incompatible. The species studied may possess complete, strong or partial self-incompatibility. We found two different sites where self-incompatibility reactions occur, the stigma and the stylar channel, and both sites were not found in the same genus except for Anathallis. In Anathallis, the two groups that differ morphologically (formerly Pleurothallis subgen. Specklinia sect. Muscosae