This subspecies grows fully exposed in dry to moist calcareous soil – most often in grassland, grassy garrigue and fallow fields, but also in waste ground (a fairly rare phenomenon in Ophrys).
Subsp. rhodia seems endemic to Rhodes (where it is rather common) and Karpathos (where it is very rare). It has also been reported from Chios, Cyprus and Israel, but the photographs seen by us show individuals of O. umbilicata subsp. umbilicata with small flowers and green sepals. [Aeg, Cre].
Plant 10-35 cm tall with 3-12 flowers. Sepals green, 10-13 × 4.5-7 mm. Petals more or less triangular, often auriculate, 3-4.2 × 3-4.2 mm, approximately as long as wide. Lip 7.5-12 × 7.5-12 mm; side lobes obliquely conical, obtuse, 2-5 mm long; mid-lobe not markedly narrowed at base; appendage 1.5-2 mm long; mirror covering almost the entire midlobe.
