![]() Among these methods, only microsatellites proved to be suitable for subspecies identification. 2005) were used to study the intra-specific variation of honey bees. 2005), mitochondrial DNA (Smith and Brown 1990 Garnery et al. Recently, molecular methods based on allozymes (Bouga et al. However, this method is highly labour intensive because it requires the preparation of several body parts and numerous measurements. ![]() Classical morphometry is based on measurements of 36 characters, which include the size of various body parts (forewings, abdomen and legs), colour and pilosity (Ruttner 1988). The precision and power of the identification were markedly improved by increasing the number of measured characters (DuPraw 1965a, b). 2007) based on a small number of measurements are suitable for the discrimination of a limited number of subspecies. Measurement of the cubital index and other traditional methods (Prabucki et al. Usually, methods that are more precise require more effort therefore, for the purpose of biodiversity conservation and breeding, often rapid and less precise methods were used. There is a range of different methods of honey bee subspecies identification (Bouga et al. In some cases, beekeepers aim to avoid some subspecies and their hybrids, for example, Africanized honey bees in the American continents (Francoy et al. In order to keep those breeding lines as pure stocks, breeders need to eliminate colonies representing other subspecies (Kauhausen-Keller and Keller 1994). ![]() Breeders often declare that their breeding lines belong to a particular subspecies. Proper identification of the subspecies and evolutionary lineages is also important in honey bee breeding. Precise zoogeographical maps based on standardised identification methods would make an important contribution to future conservation programs. In some parts of Asia and Africa, the distribution ranges of honey bee subspecies have not been fully explored (Meixner et al. Moreover, discrimination of honey bee subspecies can be important in zoogeographic studies. Monitoring local subspecies and limiting the introduction of non-native subspecies would help to conserve honey bee genetic biodiversity (De la Rúa et al. Furthermore, feral honey bee populations shrank or vanished in certain parts of Europe (Moritz et al. Because of honey bee queen trade and migratory beekeeping, the natural ranges of subspecies are increasingly disturbed (De la Rúa et al. 2011).ĭiscrimination of the subspecies is important for the conservation of the honey bee biodiversity. Later molecular analyses mostly confirmed the morphological groupings, with few minor discrepancies (Franck et al. Lineage A occurs in central and southern Africa, lineage C in southwest Europe, lineage M in Northern and Western Europe and lineage O in the Middle East (Kandemir et al. These subspecies are grouped into four evolutionary lineages based on analysis of morphological characteristics (Ruttner 1988). By incorporating behavioural traits, numerous subspecies were defined (last reviewed by Engel 1999). These traits, however, are rarely distinct in single subspecies, and multivariate statistical approaches were indispensable for reliable identification. Such diverse conditions and the history of spread and isolation of subpopulations resulted in a notable variation of morphological traits. Within this range, there are markedly different climates and environments. The western honey bee ( Apis mellifera) has a wide geographical range, which covers almost the entire area of Europe, Africa, the Near East and central Asia (Ruttner 1988 Sheppard and Meixner 2003 Chen et al. The obtained identification data were exported to the IdentiFly computer software, which is freely available. The accuracy of honey bee subspecies identification was less consistent and ranged from 100 to 50% and was particularly low in African honey bees. The identification of evolutionary lineages of honey bees based on forewing venations proved to be highly reliable, which confirms earlier studies. These contained 187 honey bee colonies allocated into 25 subspecies from four evolutionary lineages. Reference samples for the subspecies were obtained from the Morphometric Bee Data Bank in Oberursel, Germany. The aim of this study was to develop a fast and easy identification method based on analysing forewing vein patterns of honey bees by geometric morphometrics. However, there is a demand for efficient tools to identify honey bee subspecies, ecotypes, populations or hybrids. It is well known that these subspecies differ in their wing venation patterns. Within the western honey bee ( Apis mellifera), there are more than 20 recognised subspecies.
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