Steven B who said: >The news seemed a lot more reasonable when I went to the link that >Peter provided and found that the report actually says the habitat >ranges from 1000 to 3700 m.
Actually that is incorrect Steven. The Peruvian friend who sent me the link to the El Comercio article, which I posted on the OGD, added in the e-mail that it was at 3700 m. I simply passed that information on in my OGD post. I should have realized that in the Andes one speaks not of large 1000 hectare flat surfaces. Sorry Steven, for making you frown. You are correct about Sobralia altissima. It did come from Huancavelica and was described in 1999 by the two taxonomists you mention.. One of the two taxonomists told me (personal communication,)that they described a dozen or so more new species from there. If the El Comercio report is accurate, then the bulk of new species is yet to be described. That Huancavelica was finally designated as a National Reserve is nice, but no guarantee that its biodiversity will be preserved. "Remoteness" and "hard to get to," are far more assuring. For those of you who missed it, allow me to repeat what one Peruvian friend told me re traveling to Huancavelica: "When I lecture I always ask people if they have been to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. There you have an unbelievable view of the Grand Tetons. I always say look at that and imagine that the habitat is on the other side. You take the bus until the bus breaks. Then you take the Jeep until the Jeep breaks. Then you take the horse until the horse dies. Then you take the mule until the mule dies. Then you walk up the mountain for 10 hours the first day and only 6 hours the second day. That is one isolated habitat for us gringos."
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