The genus Dendrophylax is a distant relative of the African and Indian Ocean genus Angraecum; at the time of the origin of the family Orchidaceae, the Atlantic ocean was still in parts a strait, permitting their common ancestors to establish in now widely separated Gondwanan regions [REF].
The giant sphinx moth, Cocytius antaeus is the only insect to have co-evolved with Dendrophylax to perform the necessary pollination.