O. tetraloniae group which takes its name from the tetralonia Genus of bee's that are the most significant pollinators of this family of Ophrys.
Its home is the sub mediterranean area's of southern France and northern Italy but can reach as far north as Switzerland and is probably at its most frequent in the Maritime Alp's and Alpine foothills of Vercors and Ecrins.
As with most members of this group, identification is not
easy and there are several other species with which it may be confused. Two imprortant features of this group are their tendencies to be more or less scolopaxoid and have a broader and more complete band of submarginal hair than similar species such as O. fuciflora.
An additional recognition feature with O. brachyotes is its
propensity to appear vauguely or often clearly three lobed.
This can be seen in several of the illustrations but particularly with number 8.
All the photograph's are from the Ecrins National Park
south of Grenoble and date from the last week of May.
