Ophrys sabulosa  

In Jber.naturwiss.Ver.Wuppertal 43 (1990): 134 PAULUS and GACK wrote about a wide spread Ophrys fusca s.l. with relative big labellum, which is late in flower, i.e. usually not before april, and which they considered to be a Sicilian endemism. Unfortunately no photo of the taxon was published. Since then it was called by the provisional name 'sabulosa-fusca', which came from the pollinator, the solitary bee Andrena trimmerana (formerly A. sabulosa sensu WARNCKE). 2004 in Natural.belges 85 (Orchid. 17): 110-124 DELFORGE wrote a formal description of an Ophrys sabulosa, of which he thought it were PAULUS' sabulosa-fusca. In 2020 in Jour.Eur.Orch. 52 (2-4): 355ff H.F.PAULUS wrote that it was not his sabulosa-fusca, but that in reality DELFORGEs Ophrys gackiae also described in 2004 is PAULUS' sabulosa-fusca. Ophrys gackiae is not shown here but there.

However DELFORGE's Ophrys sabulosa, which is shown below, looks like Ophrys calocaerina which had been described in 1994 and which is occurring in the Eastern Mediterranean and most probably also in Southern Italy, But the identity isn't proven yet, because in Greece the pollinating bee of Ophrys calocaerina is Andrena labiata, while in Sicily PAULUS saw Andrena limbata on Ophrys sabulosa.

Ophrys sabulosa P.DELFORGE, Sizilien Buccheri 27.4.98	Ophrys sabulosa P.DELFORGE, Sizilien Buccheri 27.4.98
Ophrys sabulosa ?, Sizilien Niscemi 31.3.98	Ophrys sabulosa ?, Sizilien Niscemi 31.3.98
Ophrys sabulosa ?, Sicily Niscemi 31.3.98	Ophrys sabulosa ?, Sicily Niscemi 31.3.98
Ophrys sabulosa ?, Sicily Niscemi 31.3.98
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