Diuris semilunulata

Yeah ok, it's a bit early but if Lachlan is happy....

@Tapirlord I said the same to him, I normally don't find them here until November. He did say that whole complex is confusing as heck and needs revision, but these are are far too heavily marked for pardina. What are your thoughts? Keen to hear.

I'd have called this D.pardina myself, the labellum side lobes are narrow rather than well rounded plus the earlier flowering time. I don't see that these plants are too heavily marked for D.pardina, infact David Jones describes the flowers of this species as being 'heavily marked' in his ACT field guide. These markings would accord with other D.pardina sightings on naturemapr see for instance Diuris pardina (Leopard Doubletail)

A LOT of people take issue with Jones, though, which is why I'm a little reluctant to rely on his guide, aside from the unaccepted nomenclature. Myself, I would have leant towards D maculata. Relying on sightings doesn't necessarily validate this as D pardina, as again, the genus is confusing and those sightings could be incorrectly labelled. @Tapirlord

Tina. A bit of a long one sorry, bear with me!

I appreciate that David Jones is controversial, but it's my understanding that those issue arises from his broader scale classification of aligned taxa (e.g. the Pterostylis and Caladenia splits) and the elevation to species rank of morphologically similar taxa (e.g. Prasophyllyum jeaneaganiae). This case concerns neither matter, all three taxa you mention, D.maculata, D.pardina and D.semilunulata, are very well established and David is not responsible for the elevation of any of these to species rank himself. David's treatment of them in his book is then not simply an assertation of his opinions, it is also a review of existing literature; whatever you might think of him, he is very good at citing his sources. I would say the book is a valuable resource and would not be so quick to discount it.

However, I went as sought and independent authority. Here is what Plantnet has to say.

Lateral lobes of labellum usually larger than midlobeDiuris semilunulata
Lateral lobes of labellum usually smaller than midlobe (Continue)

Flowers yellow, dotted and spotted with dark markings (mainly coastal)Diuris maculata
Flowers yellow to golden, heavily blotched and suffused with dark markings (mainly inland) Diuris pardina

In this plant, the majority of lateral lobes appear smaller or of equal size to the midlobe. I know it's close on some flowers, and to a certain extent this is a judgment call, but those in D.semilunulata should be quite broad; here is a good example Diuris semilunulata (Late Leopard Orchid)

I'd call these flowers yellow or yellow enough, and as you say they are heavily marked. The markings appear to me as blotches compared to spots. This environment is inland rather than coastal. Again it is a tricky call, but for now I stand by what I said before. I would call this D.pardina.

I apologise if i'm coming across as using sightings to validate my IDs. I only mean to highlight examples of our previous treatment which shows similarity to this sighting; I would maintain that there is value in doing so. Although I wouldn't want to review this complex myself......they are tricky my goodness.