O. parosica was first described by Delforge from Paros in 1995 and is a member of the O. attaviria group of Ophrys.
This species together with O. phaseliana and the more recently described O. pelinaea have been presenting taxonomic challenges for a decade now, most particularly in terms of conspecificy but also the question of their very presence in the eastern Aegean. In 2006, Delforge acknowledged the possibility of conspecificy but nonetheless described O. parosica and O. phaseliana as separate species, both to be found in the islands of the eastern Aegean. His opinion subsequently moved to a reduction of O. phaseliana's status to one of variety (O. parosica v phaseliana). He similarly reclassified O. parosica as O. parosica v parosica but his opinion regarding their distribution remained unchanged. Research by Paulus and Hirth (2015) does not accord at all with this view and recommended reclassification of both these species (together with O. meropes and O. theophrasti) from the eastern Aegean as O. pelinaea. Confirming O. parosica to be restricted to the Cyclades and O. phaseliana to south west Turkey, the latter therefore outside of the scope of this site.
The illustrations are all from Chios (eastern Aegean) and depict plants with the typical marbling, wide yellow lip margin and open sinuses that were once considered to be O. parosica but which are now O. pelinaea in the form described in the 2015 study as parosicaoid. This page will be maintained on the site as an aid to identification.
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