Lepanthes felis is a small, tufted epiphytic orchid with slender roots and erect, slender secondary stems (ramicauls) 1.5–4.5 cm long, enclosed by three to eight minutely ciliate lepanthiform sheaths — the funnel-shaped, fringed sheaths characteristic of the genus. Each ramicaul bears a single erect, leathery elliptical leaf, 18–20 mm long and 10–14 mm wide, subacute and shortly pointed at the tip, the base tapering into a short 2–3 mm petiole. The underside of the leaf is distinctively suffused with purple — a vegetative character useful for recognising the plant when not in flower.

The inflorescence is a congested, successively flowered raceme up to 5 mm long, carried on a filiform peduncle 15–18 mm long that holds the flowers just above the leaf. The floral bract is 1.5 mm long, the pedicel 2 mm, and the curved ovary 2–3.5 mm long. The sepals are yellow, suffused and veined with red-purple, and minutely ciliate-pubescent: the dorsal sepal is ovate and concave, 13 mm long and 10 mm wide unspread, fused to the lateral sepals for 5 mm to form a deep sepaline cup, its obtuse apex abruptly contracted into a slender 1.5 mm tail; the lateral sepals are ovate and oblique, 8.5 mm long and 5 mm wide. The petals are emerald green, fleshy, oblong and sulcate, 4 mm long and 1.25 mm wide. The lip is dull green, transversely oblong, 1 mm long and 2 mm wide when expanded, with a broadly rounded apex and erect ovate-triangular lateral lobes that embrace the cylindrical 1.5 mm column. The arrangement of sepals, petals and lip produces the frontal face from which the species takes its name: "from the Latin felis*, 'a cat,' for the fancied illusion of the flower"* (Luer & Escobar, 1983).

The species has been documented at multiple sites within La Honda, growing in mature secondary forest — areas that were cleared decades ago but have since regrown to the point of developing primary-forest structure and harbouring primary-forest species, including specialist epiphytes such as L. felis. True intact (never-cleared) cloud forest is effectively absent from the vereda today; the forests where this species is found represent the ecological recovery of the landscape.

Observed as an epiphyte on living tree trunks, with individual clusters found on both mature trunks of older host trees and on smaller branches. The species occupies specialist microhabitats within the forest — the specific characteristics that make these microhabitats suitable (humidity, moss cover, canopy openness, aspect) have not yet been systematically documented in La Honda and represent a useful subject for future observation.

Observed at heights from trunk base up to approximately 2 m on host trees. Higher canopy positions have not been surveyed in La Honda; the upper vertical limit of the species' distribution in the vereda is therefore unknown and may exceed what has been directly documented.

Lepanthes felis is endemic to Colombia. The holotype was collected in the Cordillera Occidental (Frontino, Antioquia, 2,050 m; R. Escobar & E. Valencia 2605, SEL). The paratype was collected in the Cordillera Central (Mesopotamia, La Unión municipality, Antioquia, 2,050 m, December 1974; R. Escobar & O. Monsalve s.n., JAUM) — approximately 25 km from La Honda in the same cordillera. Additional populations are known from the departments of Risaralda, Chocó, and Valle del Cauca (POWO, 2026).

The La Honda record documents a newly-confirmed locality within the species' known Cordillera Central distribution, in the same mountain range as the Mesopotamia paratype. Although Lepanthes felis has been recorded on both Andean cordilleras of Colombia, it should not be assumed that the Cordillera Occidental and Cordillera Central populations represent a continuous range — the Cauca valley between the two ranges is a substantial biogeographic barrier for cloud-forest epiphytes.

Flowering has been observed in November. Published records from elsewhere in the species' range describe flowering in late spring and summer (Luer & Escobar, 1983). Across multiple observations in La Honda, not all plants have been in flower, and flowering does not appear to be strictly seasonal on the basis of data collected so far. This pattern requires more systematic observation across a full year before it can be reliably characterised.

Recognition rests on a combination of floral and vegetative traits: the mini-miniature plant size with slender ramicauls, the single apical elliptical leaf with its distinctive reddish-purple underside, and the characteristic maroon-and-yellow cat-like flower approximately 5 mm across. The genus Lepanthes as a whole is diagnosed by the presence of lepanthiform sheaths on the ramicauls — minutely ciliate, funnel-shaped sheaths that are visible with a hand lens.

Within Lepanthes, species-level identification requires close examination of the flower, and this record was identified and confirmed by Sebastián Vieira-Uribe, co-author (with J.S. Moreno) of the current authoritative illustrated treatment of the species in the Epidendra database.

Lepanthes felis is globally assessed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List (Moreno et al., 2022). At the national regulatory level in Colombia, the species is not included in Resolución 0126 de 2024 of the Ministry of Environment, which lists species under formal legal protection; this means the species is not classified as threatened under current Colombian environmental law.

A Least Concern global assessment does not, however, remove local sensitivity. Miniature orchids of the genus Lepanthes remain subject to poaching for specialist collectors, and populations can be depleted by collection far faster than the Red List assessment system can respond. For this reason, the specific locations within La Honda where L. felis has been documented are not published. Requests for further locality detail from researchers or conservation practitioners with a legitimate scientific or institutional purpose may be directed to the sheet's authors.