Ophrys subgen. Bombyliflorae sect. Bombyliflorae
(probably Reichenbach fil., Icon. Fl. Germ. 71 (1851); Latin edition)

LSID: not assigned yet

Synonyms/Synonyme
Bombylodes Bad. 1928.
Euophrys sect. Bombyliflorae Godfery 1928.

Diagnosis/Diagnose
Reichenbach (1851) differentiated in his section Araniferae Araniferae genuinae („Real Araniferae“), Aranifera bombyliflora and Araniferae apiferae. Since Aranifera bombyliflora only mentions Ophrys bombyliflora, firstly the singular is used by him, secondly, the description of Ophrys bombyliflora was apparently also accepted for a „section“ (Godfery 1928, Keller & Schlechter 1928, Soó 1928, 1929, 1959, 1970, Nelson 1962, Quentin 1994). I follow this, especially since Soó (1929) - justified or not - gave a diagnosis. Godfery (1928) used the plural for the section for the first time.

Diagnosis by Soó (1929) for sect. Bombyliflorae Rchb. fil (1851).

Type/Typus
Ophrys bombyliflora Link, J. Bot. (Schrader) 1799 (2): 325 (1800).

Taxa/Taxa
Ophrys bombyliflora var. bombyliflora (LSID: 647801-1)
                                          var. parviflora (LSID: 77144703-1) *
                                          var. albarranii (LSID: 77154425-1)                             
                                          var. canariensis (G. Kunkel) Hennecke (LSID: 77297535-1)**
* Mifsud (2014) upgraded the small-flowered Ophrys bombyliflora on Malta to a variety.
** Stefan Munzinger saw Ophrys bombyliflora in the Canary Islands and found no differences to the other European plants (oral communication), ditto Paulus (1999: 16). The subspecies is therefore downgraded to a variety, especially since Kunkel did not give a diagnosis in Latin or a type, which is the reason probably that the name is not valid at all.
The three varieties mentioned above should rather be classified taxonomically as forma, so they are not described in more detail here, nor f. buccheriana (LSID: 919043-1) and f. elongata (A.Terrac., Boll. Soc. Bot. Ital. 1910: 19.1910).