Talk:Ophrys

The superiority of Ophrys?

What's with the article's statements "They are considered the most important group of European terrestrial orchids" and "The flowers surpass all other European orchids"? I have nothing against Ophrys, but the one species in Sweden and Scandinavia as a whole isn't that exciting. If they are very dominating in cultivation, or something, please say so. JöG 21:22, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

These statements are based on the book "Illustrated Orchid encyclopedia" by Zdenêk Jezek, a Czech botanist and author of many books about orchids (Dutch translation Rebo International 2003 ISBN 90-366-1566-6). I agree these are somewhat strong statements, but they reflect a reality which can't be denied. The morphology of Ophrys is special through its extreme mimicry. And as to Sweden and Scandinavia, this region can hardly be representative for the whole European flora. JoJan 08:10, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

As an enthusiast for Mediterranean flowers, I would agree with these statements. But that's my personal opinion; it's quite unsuitable for Wikipedia. Peter coxhead (talk) 16:23, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Pollination of Ophrys bombyliflora

I have removed a paragraph which read:

The Bumblebee Orchid (Ophrys bombyliflora) is a typical example. It has flowers that look and smell so much like female bumblebees that males flying nearby are irresistibly drawn in by this chemical signal, stimulating them sexually. The insect gets so excited that he starts to copulate with the flower. The firmness, the smoothness and the velvety hairs of the lip are a further incentive for the insect to enter the flower. The pollinia inadvertently stick to the head or the abdomen of the male bumblebee. On visiting another orchid of the same species, the bumblebee pollinates its sticky stigma with the pollinia. The filaments of the pollinia have, during transport, taken such a position that the waxy pollen are able to stick to the stigma. Such is the refinement of the reproduction. If the filaments hadn’t taken the new position, the pollinia could not have pollinated the new orchid. [Referenced to: The Orchids, Natural History and Classification, Robert L. Dressler. ISBN 0-674-87526-5]

I have no idea whether the source says this, but if it does, it's wrong. Here are some obvious errors:

• Bumblebees are much too large to pollinate O. bombyliflora which has the smallest flowers in the genus.
• Male bumblebees are produced by colonies at the end of the summer and early autumn; Ophrys species flower in spring when the over-wintering males of solitary bees and other hymenoptera emerge.
• All the reliable sources I can find say that O. bombyliflora is pollinated by solitary bees of the genus Eucera (there's one ref. at Ophrys bombyliflora).
• Pollinators of any given species do not collect pollinia either on the head or the abdomen. The tactile signals produced by the flowers orient pollinators in one direction or the other. I haven't checked, but it's likely that in O. bombyliflora they face into the centre.

Peter coxhead (talk) 16:23, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Number of species

The number of species of Ophrys varies WILDLY from source to source. The areas covered by the following aren't totally comparable but the figures give a sense of the variation.

Source	Number of species
Flora Europaea Vol. 5 (Tutin et al. 1980)	20
Wild Orchids of Britain and Europe (Davies et al. 1983)	28
Field Guide to Orchids of Britain and Europe (Buttler 1991)	53
Mediterranean Wild Flowers (Blamey & Grey-Wilson 1993)	23
Orchids of Britain and Europe (Delforge 1995)	130
Guide des orchidées d’Europe, d’Afrique du Nord et du Proche-Orient (Delforge 2001)	252
The Bee Orchids of Europe (Pedersen & Faurholdt 2007)	19
Annals of Botany 101: 385-402 (Devey et al. 2008)	~10 phylogenetically distinguishable groups

All the latest academic work suggests that the number of species used by Buttler and Delforge is a gross over-estimate. The list in the article should (a) be referenced (b) reflect the total uncertainty in the number of species. Unfortunately I don't have time to sort this now. Peter coxhead (talk) 17:17, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

 Done I have now replaced the "Species" section with a new one, based on the list in the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. This seems to be the most reliable up-to-date source. I have explained that other sources give widely varying numbers of species. (The hybrids need doing as well; or even removing?) Peter coxhead (talk) 15:28, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

Pollinator-Ophrys-relationship

The statement: "Every Ophrys orchid has its own pollinator insect and is completely dependent on this species for its survival" is totally wrong. The publications cited in this context were old. Five years later there are a dozen of articles which show, that Ophrys species have up to to 10 different pollinators. In case of O. eleonorae even the probability is given: Andrena antigana 2, Andrena flavipes 2, Andrena nigroaenea 6, Osmia notata 1 and Osmia tricornis 3. The discussion today is that there is an effective pollinator variing from landscape to landscape.

Best regards Dr. Manfred Hennecke eMail: dr.manfred.hennecke@gmail.com if articles about this subject are wanted.

Ophrys kotschyi

In the list Ophrys kotschyi is positioned absolute wrong. By molecular-genetics it was shown that Ophrys kotschyi subsp. cretica belongs to the subsection Reinholdiae as Ophrys cretica. Subsp. ariadne is a variety of Ophrys cretica. Ophrys kotschyi itself belongs to sectio Umbilicatae.

Literature: SRAMKÓ, G., GULYAS, G. & MOLNÀR, V.A. (2011): Convergent evolution in Ophrys kotschyi (Orchidaceae) revisited: a study using nrITS and cpIGS sequences. - Annales Botanici Fennici 48: 97-106.

Best regards Dr. Manfred Hennecke

Ophrys species

The cited molecular-genetic study by Devey et al. 2008 shows sections. Together with morphology indeed about 10 sections of Ophrys can be regocnized:

genus Ophrys

subgenus Ophrys → section Ophrys L.

subgenus Bombyliflorae → section Bombyliflorae Reichenbach. fil.

                      → section Tenthrediniferae Quentin

                      → section Speculum Hennecke

                      → section Pseudophrys Godfery

subgenus Fuciflorae → section Apiferae Quentin

                      → section Araniferae Reichenbach fil.

                      → section Fuciflorae ?

                      → section Umbilicatae ?

                      → section Scolopax ? (if O. cornuta = oestrifera is a cryptic species the section Cornutae Lindl. has to be reactivated)

Within these sections there are about 60-70 solid taxa. Hybrids in genus Ophrys are going into hundreds, which is the problem in this genus. The pollinator relationship is leaky, compare different talk..

Literature: Matching molecular genetics and morphology in the genus Ophrys; avaible on researchgate.net or academia.edu

Best regards Dr. Manfred Hennecke

Ophrys species list

The Ophrys species list, retrieved on 2017-09-03, is a stub and not acceptable. Kew is following the book of Pedersen & Faurholdt (2007; ISBN: 9781842461525), which is old-dated, the taxa of Asia are not included, and more important, some taxa are wrong interpreted. The editor of this plant list at Kew has very often a different view, which is confusing if you do not know the facts (compare the talk about Ophrys kotschyi). The only new view, these author gave in this lousy book, is about Ophrys fusca s. str.. Meanwhile, molecular-genetic studies show that splitting of this taxon is not possible, because gene transfer is very effective. Here, more research is desired.

Literature: Cotrim, H., Monteiro, F., Sousa, E., Pinto, M.j. & Fay, M.F. (2016): Marked hybridization and introgression in Ophrys sect. Pseudophrys in the western Iberian Peninsula. - American Journal of Botany 103(4): 677-691.

Best regards Dr. Manfred Hennecke