Orchidaceae Diversity in Southern Italy: New Hybrids, Floristic Records, and Implications for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainability

The central Mediterranean is a hotspot of Orchidaceae diversity, characterized by taxonomic richness, endemism, and natural hybridization. This study updates orchid diversity and distribution in Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, and surrounding islands, providing evidence to support biodiversity conservation and sustainable habitat management. Field surveys and historical records document six previously undescribed natural hybrids, new records of known hybrids, and typification of four previously described hybrid taxa. Orchis pallens and Corallorhiza trifida reach their southernmost Italian localities in Basilicata. Ophrys cinnabarina and Orchis × pseudoanatolica are newly recorded in Calabria, marking their southernmost peninsular occurrences. Populations of Orchis anthropophora, Himantoglossum adriaticum, H. hircinum, Epipactis calabrica, E. robatschiana and Neottia ovata define their current southern limits in peninsular Italy, while Epipogium aphyllum reaches its southernmost known locality in Italy and Europe. Serapias nurrica, previously known only from insular territories, is confirmed for peninsular Italy, and several new localities are documented in Sicily. In eastern Sicily, new findings involve Ophrys bertolonii, O. laurensis, O. fusca subsp. pallida, Epipactis hyblaea, Neottia ovata, and two natural hybrids. In the Aeolian Islands, four orchid species are newly recorded on Alicudi, Panarea, and Vulcano. These findings refine the Italian orchid taxonomic and distributional framework and provide baseline data for monitoring rare and range-edge populations, identifying conservation priorities, and informing sustainable land-use planning to support the long-term persistence of orchid diversity and its habitats.