The separation of Myrmecodia erinacea and alata is very difficult to impossible. Normally, M. erinacea has rather narrow leaves with wavy leaf margins and an uneven, quasi-embossed leaf surface, while M. alata has rather broad, smooth and unwavy leaves.
However, it is almost impossible to separate them in some collections. I have numerous locality forms in my collection and will offer some of them in the next few years.In this case, it is M. alata with very weak and rather sparsely branched spination and a brownish caudex, which originates from the Merauke area in the very south of Irian Jaya.