From the type description: “Similar to the widespread (yet endemic to New Guinea) Hoya onychoides because both species have inflexed ‘claw-like’ corolla lobes and oblong corona lobes. They can be easily separated because the inner surface of the corolla of Hoya onychoides is glabrous (except a few scattered hairs inside at the base of the staminal corona and along margins) while in Hoya liddleana it is pubescent throughout inside. In Hoya onychoides the corona is distinctly conical and about as tall as wide, dark wine-red, while the corona of Hoya liddleana has a conical center with prominent spreading outer processes and it is about half as tall as wide, cream, with pink or maroon center. Hoya liddleana is also similar to the recently discovered Hoya stenaokei Simonsson & Rodda (name improved, originally Hoya stenakei; IPNI 2021), once again endemic to New Guinea. Both species have the inner surface of the corolla pubescent. The two species can be separated based on the shape of the corolla (inflexed in Hoya liddleana and rotate in Hoya stenaokei) and the shape of the corona (star-shaped with lobes oblong and only basally bilobed at the outer tip in Hoya liddleana; almost pentagonal with lobes rhomboid and distinctly bilobed at the outer tip in Hoya stenaokei).” Thanks to Mary Carroll for providing this information.
