| † Meliorchis caribea Temporal range: 15 Ma Miocene |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Orchidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Orchidoideae |
| Tribe: | Cranichideae |
| Subtribe: | Goodyerinae |
| Genus: | Meliorchis |
| Species: | † M. caribea |
| Binomial name | |
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Meliorchis caribea |
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Meliorchis caribea is an extinct, early to middle Miocene orchid known only from a packet of pollen attached to the wing of a stingless bee, Proplebeia dominicana, trapped in Dominican amber. It was the first fossil orchid ever described, and allowed for a revised estimate of the time of origin of the Orchidaceae to the Mesozoic. Morphology of the pollinium shows that M. caribea is closely related to the modern genus Ligeophila.