Tillandsia tehuacana I. Ramírez & Carnevali, a new species in the T. utriculata (L.) L. complex (Bromeliaceae) from Puebla, Mexico, is described and illustrated. The new entity is similar to T. makoyana Baker, but the rosettes are cylindrical (vs. funnelform), the leaves are coriaceous (vs. sclerotic), the leaves have a proportionately larger sheath compared with the lamina (vs. leaves with the sheath and lamina subequal), and the rachis of the inflorescence is sharply flexuous (vs. straight). The new species is also characterized by its habit, since it usually grows in dry thorn-scrub-cactus associations, while T. makoyana grows in different vegetation types, including oak and low deciduous forests. The new entity is also similar to T. pinicola I. Ramírez & Carnevali, but the new taxon differs by its larger rosette and inflorescence, its tubular rosette with leaves that are gray and purple and white lepidote on both sides (vs. a funnelform rosette with green leaves and only sparsely white lepidote abaxially), the floral bracts much shorter than the sepals (vs. subequal), the flowers ovate in shape (vs. tubular), and the three stigmatic lobes twisted together (vs. not twisted together).