O. paolina was first described as a subspecies by V. Liverani and Romolini from Gargano in 2010 and is named after noted Italian botanist Paolo Liverani. It is a member of the predominantly western European O. fuciflora group of Ophrys.
This is an Ophrys that has been known for many years from the heavily botanized Gargano peninsula, having always been viewed as an orchid whose characteristics did not conform to the known fuciflorid species of the region. It's perhaps surprising therefore that it took so long for the species to receive formal recognition. O. paolina is endemic to tha Gargano peninsula of Italy where it occurs in dry grasslands and open downy oak woodland.
It comes into contact with several other similar species but differentiating them is comparatively straightforward given that this orchid exhibits some highly characteristic features. It is a large flowered species with a long, cinnabar red or orange basal field that sits below a slimy green stigmatic cavity containing small green pseudo-eyes. The perianth is invariably a pale pink, the petals often being slightly darker but always widely separated and extremely small. The specular markings are usually simple, the basal swellings either reduced or rather feeble and the appendage large and prominent.
The above description could be equally applied, without any revision to another Gargano species, O. cinnabarina and as far as the authors are aware they are morphologically inseparable. The only differentiator appears to be flowering times with O. paolina coming into bloom from early April and O. cinnabarina from late May.
