O. minipassionis was first described as a subspecies by Romolini and Soca from Gargano in 2011 and subsequently promoted to a full species in 2015. It had been known in the Monte Sant'Angelo area of Gargano for many years and had variously been considered as a variant of O. sphegodes and O. virescens, albeit that until recently the taxon had never been thoroughly studied. As its name suggests it has been likened to a small version of the northern Spanish and southern French species O. passionis.

Separating the Ophrys of peninsula Italy is to say the least difficult and made all the more so by a proliferation of new species over the last two decades, many of which do not as yet have an accurately defined distribution. This situation when coupled with natural variation and introgressive hybridzation poses significant problems with successful differentiation of the small sphegodes type taxons. Morpholoically the flower is similar to O. araneola and the species has been placed with this species under the O. incubacea grouping.

O. minipassionis is an Italian endemic which has a wide range from Tuscany down to Apulia but is only in any way common in the south, most particularly on the Gargano promontory. It is a variable species, often drab, but with striking bright green pseudo-eyes. The lip is entire with an almost complete ring of course hair and often with yellowish margins. Basal swellings are absent or poorly developed and the appendage is similarly missing or barely observable. The flowers can number up to ten and are characteristically held at nearly 90 degrees to the stem. The photos are from Tuscany and Gargano dating from the middle of April.