Ophrys tenthredinifera Willd., Sp. Pl., ed. 4 [Willdenow] 4(1): 67 (1805).

LSID: 648146-1
WCSP: accepted
GBIF: accepted

Synonyms/Synonyme
Arachnites limbatus Link, Manual 1: 247 (1829).
Arachnites tenthredinifer (Willd.) Death., Orchid. Sicul .: 85 (1842).
Ophrys di-stefani Lojac., Fl. Sicul. 3: 38 (1909).
Ophrys grandiflora Ten., Cat. Hoard. Neapol. 1813, app. 2: 83 (1819).
Ophrys hookeri Orph. ex Soó, Bot. Arch. 23:25 (1928).
Ophrys insectifera var. rosea Desf., Fl. Atlant. 2: 320 (1799).
Ophrys limbata Link, Handbook 1: 247 (1829).
Ophrys neglecta Parl., Fl. Ital. 3: 548 (1860).
Ophrys rosea (Desf.) Dufour, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 7: 170 (1860).
Ophrys tabanifera Sieber ex Nyman, Consp. Fl. Eur .: 697 (1882).
Ophrys tenoreana Lindl., Bot. Reg. 13: t. 1093 (1827).
Ophrys tetuanensis Pau, Monde Pl. 30 (181): 1 (1929).
Ophrys villosa Desf., Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. 10: 225 (1807).

Diagnosis/Diagnose
Willdenow (1805) refers to Desfontaines' description of a variety rosea (Flora Atlantica, Vol. 2: 320. 1798-1799. Paris, no illustration).

Terra typica
in Barbaria (North West Africa)

Type/Typus
Holotype: leg. R.L. Desfontaines (Herbar Willdenow 16396)

Oldest illustration/Älteste Abbildung

Etymology/Ethymologie
Tenthredinidae, family of the real sawfly, fera (lat.) = carrying/tragen.

Possible confusion
The primary diagnostic features are actually clear, but the possibility of confusion with Ophrys biancae, O. lacaitae and yellow variants of Ophrys holosericea should be pointed out.

Fig. 170/1: Primary features (red arrows) to distinguish Ophrys tenthredinifera from similar species of the subgenus Fuciflorae: 1. Connective with or without tip, 2. Lip only half or completely hairy, 3. More or less developed tufts of hair above the appendage (Drawings by Reinhard & Gölz, compiled from various sources by these authors and supplemented with reference marks).

Fig. 170/2: left: a yellow Ophrys holosericea (photo M. Hennecke); Middle: a yellow O. tenthredinifera (photo by S. Munzinger); right: O. lacaitae (photo M. Hennecke); red arrows show the primary features: connective with or without tip, hair half or full around the lip. In addition, O. lacaitae has very small petals. The lip length was adjusted accordingly for comparability (black lines).

Variability
The species has a pan-Mediterranean distribution area, therefore a lot of variability can be seen. According to Hennecke & Galanos (2020) sect. Tenthrediniferae consists of the nominate species Ophrys tenthredinifera and two other hybrids with Ophrys candica and Ophrys chestermanii as the other parent. All other taxa were downgraded to the taxonomic level of variety, as none of the taxa has its own distribution area:
var. aprilia, dictynnae, dimitata, expansa, ficalhoana, glabrescens, guimaraesii (= praecox), korae, leochroma, lutescens, lycomedis, neglecta, riphaea, sanctae-marcella, spectabilis, ulyssea (= amphidami), villosa (list may be not complete).
Quite a bit of researchers tried to show that more species can be separated within the sect. Tenthrediniferae by measurung length and width of the lip. According to all these data, a morphological differentiation between populations is not possible, since 98% are within the 3s-range and therefore not significant (Hennecke & Galanos 2020). In Mallorca there seems to be a population with slightly larger flowers than the nominate species, which can only be seen in the data from Wucherpfennig (2016): The lip length is extremely long. Such populations were also found earlier in Algeria (Kreutz et al. 2014). For the sake of completeness it should be mentioned that Vázquez et al. (2012) found a variety in North Africa with a green perigone and described it as Ophrys neglecta var. riphaea. It follows that the distinction by the colour of the perigone between Ophrys bombyliflora and O. tenthredinifera, stated by Delforge (2006), can no longer be applied.
According to Romolini & Biagioli (GIROS 2016: 195), the typical Ophrys tenthredinifera does not occur in Italy according to the latest findings. „neglecta“ is most widespread in Italy, especially in Sardinia, along the Tyrrhenian coast and on the southern Italian peninsula of Salento. In the rest of central Italy it occurs more sporadically and extends to the north of Romagna and Piedmont. This was first noticed by Parlatore (1858), who described Ophrys neglecta in contrast to Ophrys tenthredinifera in his Italian Flora. His wording is not easy to understand, but there are two points of discrimination towards O. tenthredinifera:
1. the smaller flower size, which has been verified in various studies,
2. the distinctive tuft of hair which is higher than the appendage.
More and more researchers noticed this difference through the tuft of hair between the taxa within section Tenthrediniferae (cf. Devillers et al. 2003, Vázquez et al. 2012).
It is shown in various studies that there is a tendency towards a smaller lip size from west to east, which is also a fact e.g. with O. lutea or O. speculum. But as already said, the data are within the 3s-range and the measurement error range (for summary refer Hennecke & Galanos 20xy).
The different tuft of hair could be a trait of discrimination between Ophrys tenthredinifera s. str. and O. neglecta, but this has to be shown in the future. „aprilia“ is rare in southern Corsica and even more rare in Sardinia and a discussion is going on, if this entity could be a hybrid between „tenthredinifera“ and „neglecta“.

Flowering phenology
In general, it can be stated that the overlap of the flowering period is enormous, which makes it clear that it is not possible to differentiate taxa within sect. Tenthrediniferae by the flowering period (see also Fig. 87/1 and Paulus & Hirth 2012: their Fig. 6 ).

Fruit set
55.5% (Neiland & Wilcock 1998)

Pollinator insects
As in the case of Ophrys bombyliflora, the list of pollinators is long, so that a listing is not necessary (cf. Cingel 1995 and Gaskett 2011). Self-pollination has been proven (Hennecke & Galanos 2020).

Chromosome number
x = 18, 2n = 2x = 36, 38, 48 (Bernardos et al. 2003)
ditto for var. ulyssea and var. villosa (CCDB)

Ecology
Sparse pine forests, old olive groves, maquis, garrigue, grasslands, rushes swamps, on alkaline to slightly acidic soils.

Altitude distribution

General distribution
Fig. 184/1: Observation map of Ophrys tenthredinifera (blue: NG, yellow / brown: GBIF: 2020-06) with flora areas according to Buttler (1986, see Fig. 23/1).

Hbrids/Hybride