Multivariate morphometric analyses of Apis cerana Fabricius, 1793 across its full geographical range were performed. Principal components plots did not reveal distinct morphoclusters. Further substructuring of the principal component plots could not initially be derived but only by introducing local labelling did it reveal six main morphoclusters. We apply geographically based common epithets to the morphoclusters and designate them as: as "Northern cerana", "Himalayan cerana" "Indian plains cerana" "Indochinese cerana" "Philippine cerana" and "Indo-Malayan cerana". A. cerana naturally occurs in climatic zones ranging from rainforest, savanna, steppe, grasslands and deciduous forest to taiga. The distributions of the morphoclusters are related to these physiographic and climatic factors. The taxonomy of A. cerana is formally revised and synonymous specific and infraspecific names summarized. Apis cerana / subspecies / morphometrics / biogeography

Contests mediate access to reproductive opportunities in almost all species of animals. An important aspect of the evolution of contests is the reduction of the costs incurred during intra-specific encounters to a minimum. However, escalated fights are commonly lethal in some species like the honeybee, Apis mellifera. By experimentally reducing honeybee queens' fighting abilities, we demonstrate that they refrain from engaging in lethal contests that typically characterize their reproductive dominance behavior and coexist peacefully within a colony. This suggests that weak queens exploit an alternative reproductive strategy and provides an explanation for rare occurrences of queen cohabitation in nature. Our results further indicate that self-assessment, but not mutual assessment of fighting ability occurs prior to and during the agonistic encounters.

No abstract

-Morphometric analyses of Apis cerana workers from 123 localities in oceanic Asia were made on the whole oceanic group, within specific island systems, and specific mainland-oceanic island "interfaces". Principal component analysis of the total oceanic database yielded two distinct morphoclusters: (1) the bees of Japan and morphocluster and (2) the bees of all the other islands. Discriminant and hierarchical cluster analyses showed overlapping regional clusters in the latter: 2.1 the bees of the Philippines (except Palawan) and some Indonesia, 2.2 bees of Palawan, Malaysian Borneo, Kalimantan, Sumatera and some Sulawesi (Indonesia), and 2.3 most of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Hainan (China) and Sri Lanka. Significant differences between the means of the four groups were demonstrated using Wilks' lambda statistic. The Mahalanobis distances among the honeybee samples are consistent with cyclical, geological rises and falls of sea level between present and Pleistocene land areas. Apis cerana / morphometrics / biogeography / islands

In arid zones, the shortage of bee forage is critical and usually compels beekeepers to move their colonies in search of better forages. Identifying and mapping the spatiotemporal distribution of the bee forages over given area is important for better management of bee colonies. In this study honey bee plants in the target areas were inventoried following, ground inventory work supported with GIS applications. The study was conducted on 85 large plots of 50 × 50 m each. At each plot, data on species name, height, base diameter, crown height, crown diameter has been taken for each plant with their respective geographical positions. The data were stored, and processed using Trimble GPS supported with ArcGIS10 software program. The data were used to estimate the relative frequency, density, abundance and species diversity, species important value index and apicultural value of the species. In addition, Remotely Sensed Satellite Image of the area was obtained and processed using Hopfield Artificial Neural Network techniques. During the study, 182 species from 49 plant families were identified as bee forages of the target area. From the total number of species; shrubs, herbs and trees were accounting for 61%, 27.67%, and 11.53% respectively. Of which ,, ,, , and were the major nectar source plants of the area in their degree of importance. The average vegetation cover values of the study areas were low (<30%) with low Shannon's species diversity indices (H') of 0.5-1.52 for different sites. Based on the eco-climatological factors and the variations in their flowering period, these major bee forage species were found to form eight distinct spatiotemporal categories which allow beekeepers to migrate their colonies to exploit the resources at different seasons and place. The Remote Sensed Satellite Image analysis confirmed the spatial distribution of the bee forage resources as determined by the ground inventory work. An integrated approach, combining the ground inventory work with GIS and satellite image processing techniques could be an important tool for characterizing and mapping the available bee forage resources leading to their efficient and sustainable utilization.

Los observations effcctuecs dans le nord du Botswana de 1965 a 1970 out inontrc que Ics damalisques (Damaliscus lunatus lunatus) se nourrissent prcsquc exclusivement d'herbe a la limite de la savane et de la foret. Les deplacemcnts dc cos animaux sont reg is par la disponibilite saisonniere de l'eau libre et leur rythme d'activito quotidien est influence par la qualite de la nourriture. II ressort egalement de cette etude que : 1) le rut se situe en mars-avril et que la plupart des jeunes naissent en novcmbrc ;2) les femelles sont sexuellement mures a 2 ans et qu'ä partir dc cet age 96 % des femelles se reproduisent ; les males sont murs a 3 ans ;3) la population est surtout constituee de hardes de femelles et de jeunes, de groupes de males celibataires et de males celibataires ; 4) parmi les adultes les femelles sont plus nombreuses que les males ; leur esperance de vie moyenne et leur taux annuel de mortalita sont respectivement de 3,0 ans et de 29 %. II semble que les males adultes soient plus sensibles que les femelles adultes aux changements saisonniers des conditions physiques. La deterioration du veld pendant la saison secbe, parfois aggravee par la competition de Pimpala, apparait comme un facteur limitant de la population de damalisques.

No abstract

Apis cerana / honeybees / subspecific taxon / morphocluster / morphometry / southern mainland Asia