page_title: Ophrys
section_title: Species
hierarchical_section_title: Ophrys / Species
caption_attribution_description: Ophrys fusca
context_page_description: The genus Ophrys is a large group of orchids from the alliance Orchis in the subtribe Orchidinae. They are widespread across much of Europe, North Africa, the Canary Islands, and the Middle East as far east as Turkmenistan.
  These plants are remarkable in that they successfully reproduce through pseudocopulation, that is, their flowers mimic female insects to such a degree that amorous males are fooled into mating with the flowers, thereby pollinating them. There are many natural hybrids.
  They are referred to as the "bee orchids" due to the flowers of some species resemblance to the furry bodies of bees and other insects. Their scientific name Ophrys is the Greek word for "eyebrow", referring to the furry edges of the lips of several species.
  Ophrys was first mentioned in the book "Natural History" by Pliny the Elder.
context_section_description: Almost 2,000 names have been proposed for species, subspecies, and "nothospecies" (i.e. species of hybrid origin) within the genus. The number of species recognized varies very widely between authorities. Flora Europaea in 1980 and Pedersen & Faurholdt in 2007 listed about 20 species in Europe as a whole; Buttler in 1991 increased this to 53 for slightly larger geographical area; Delforge in 1995 gave a total of 130 species. By contrast, a molecular phylogenetic study in 2008 suggested that there were around 10 distinguishable groups.
  The need for further study is indicated. For the moment (May 2014), we follow the lead of Kew Botanical Garden's, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families in provisionally recognizing the following taxa:
  Ophrys apifera Huds. – Bee orchid - Central and southern Europe, North Africa, east to Iran
  Ophrys × arachnitiformis Gren. & Philippe - False spider orchid (hybrid O. fuciflora × O. sphegodes) - western and central Europe from France and Britain to Sicily and Hungary
  Ophrys argolica H.Fleischm. – Argolian bee-orchid
  Ophrys argolica subsp. aegaea (Kalteisen & H. R. Reinhard) H. A. Pedersen & Faurh. - Greek islands
  Ophrys argolica subsp. argolica - Greece
  Ophrys argolica subsp. biscutella (O. Danesch & E. Danesch) Kreutz - southern Italy, Croatia
  Ophrys argolica subsp. crabronifera (Sebast. & Mauri) Faurh. - central and southern Italy
  Ophrys argolica subsp. elegans (Renz) E. Nelson - Cyprus
  Ophrys argolica subsp. lesbis (Gölz & H. R. Reinhard) H. A. Pedersen & Faurh. - western Turkey and the Greek Islands
  Ophrys argolica subsp. lucis (Kalteisen & H. R. Reinhard) H. A. Pedersen & Faurh. - Turkey, Syria, Greek islands
  Ophrys atlantica Munby – Atlantic Bee-orchid - Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia
  Ophrys bertolonii Moretti – Bertoloni's bee-orchid - from Spain to Serbia
  Ophrys bombyliflora Link – Bumblebee orchid - Mediterranean Basin and Canary Islands
  Ophrys cilicica Schltr. – Cilician bee-orchid - Turkey, Syria, Iran (note that Cilicia means southern Turkey)
  Ophrys ferrum-equinum Desf. – Horseshoe bee-orchid  - Albania, Greece, Turkey
  Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum - Albania, Greece, Turkey
  Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. gottfriediana (Renz) E.Nelson - Greece
  Ophrys fuciflora (F.W.Schmidt) Moench – Late spider-orchid - from Britain to Iraq
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. andria (P.Delforge) Faurh. - Greek islands
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. apulica O.Danesch & E.Danesch - southern Italy including Sicily
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. biancae (Tod.) Faurh. - Sicily
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. bornmuelleri (M.Schulze) B.Willing & E.Willing - Turkey, Cyprus, Greek islands, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Iraq
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. candica E.Nelson ex Soó  - southern Italy including Sicily, plus Greece and Turkey
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. chestermanii (J. J. Wood) H. Blatt & W. Wirth - Sardinia
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. elatior (Paulus) R. Engel & Quentin Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. fuciflora - from Britain to Syria
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. grandiflora (H. Fleischm. & Soó) Faurh. - Turkey, Cyprus
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. lacaitae (Lojac.) Soó - Italy, Malta, Croatia
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. oblita (Kreutz, Gügel & W. Hahn) Faurh., H. A. Pedersen & S. G. Christ - Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. oxyrrhynchos (Tod.) Soó - southern Italy including Sicily
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. pallidiconi Faurh. - Turkey
  Ophrys fuciflora subsp. parvimaculata O. Danesch & E. Danesch - Italy
  Ophrys fuciflora var. ziyaretiana (Kreutz & Ruedi Peter) Faurh. & H. A. Pedersen - Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel
  Ophrys fusca Link – Sombre bee-orchid, dark bee-orchid - from Portugal to Turkey
  Ophrys fusca subsp. blitopertha (Paulus & Gack) Faurh. & H.A.Pedersen - Turkey, Greek islands
  Ophrys fusca subsp. cinereophila (Paulus & Gack) Faurh.- Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria
  Ophrys fusca subsp. fusca  - from Portugal to Turkey
  Ophrys fusca subsp. iricolor (Desf.) K.Richt.  - from Portugal to Turkey
  Ophrys fusca subsp. pallida (Raf.) E. G.
caption: Ophrys fusca (sombre bee-orchid)
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