In Natural.belges 86 (Orchid.18): 95-140 (2005) and 87 (Orchid.19): 23-35 (2006) DELFORGE splits the eastern mediterranean Ophrys tenthredinifera s.l., which up to then had all been called Ophrys villosa, into four species: Ophrys villosa, Ophrys leochroma, Ophrys dictynnae, and Ophrys ulyssea. M.Hirth and H.F.Paulus stated in Jour.Eur.Orch. 44 (3): 625-686 (2012) that the early flowering clan from the Eastern Mediterranean, which then has been called Ophrys villosa s.str., has the same pollinating bee Eucera nigrilabris as the Western Ophrys tenthredinifera s.str., and therefore belongs to this species, too.
Ophrys leochroma, pollinated by Eucera kullenbergi, has typically but not always a darker basic coloring of the lip than the smaller flowered Ophrys tenthredinifera subsp. villosa, and a wider than high looking stigmatic cavity. Of the eastern mediterranean Ophrys tenthredinifera s.l., Ophrys leochroma is the latest in flower, at sites of lower altitude it is usually in flower from middle of March.