Ophrys obaesa
Ophrys obaesa has a medium sized labellum with velvety purple pilosity and blue-grey speculum. Seen from the front you can see a saddle-like lacing at the labellum. A good criterion to distinguish Ophrys obaesa from the similar Ophrys caesiella are its relative long petales. Ophrys obaesa is often growing in dense groups. It is endemic to Sicily, but not rare. According to PAULUS and GACK in Jber.naturwiss.Ver.Wuppertal 43: 137 (Zon)Andrena flavipes is the pollinating bee, the same bee which is pollinating Ophrys bilunulata which is widely distributed in Southwest-Europe and Northern Africa, and to which also Ophrys caesiella in SE-Sicily is belonging.
In the region of S. Stefano Quisquina Ophrys obaesa has often a red tinted underside of the labellum, which is rarely the case in other parts of Sicily. This kind of Ophrys obaesa have been called with the 'working name' 'coerulea' resp. 'caerulea' in L'Orchidophile 27 (120): 6+9. A small difference like this doesn't justify the description of a new species.
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| Ophrys obaesa, Sicily Mineo 1.4.98 | Ophrys obaesa (caerulea), Sicily, S.Stefano Quisquina 13.4.99 |
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| Ophrys obaesa, Sicily Cammarata 29.4.98 | Ophrys obaesa (caerulea), Sicily Madonies 6.4.98 |
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| Ophrys obaesa, Sicily Cammarata 29.4.98 | Ophrys obaesa, Sicily, S.Stefano Quisquina 13.4.99 | |
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Rev.: 26.Dez.2020 | |
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