Characterization of Native Honey Bee Subspecies in Republic of Benin Using Morphometric and Genetic Tools

Amakpe, Felicien; Smet, Lina De; Brunain, Marleen; Jacobs, Franciscus; Sinsin, Brice; Graaf, Dirk C. de

doi:10.2478/jas-2018-0006

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…1993). The absence of a P sequence was also reported from honey bees in neighboring Sudan (El-Niweiri and Moritz 2008), West African Benin (Amakpe et al 2018), and haplotype Y2 of Ethiopia (Franck et al 2001). A small fraction of the samples from this study was found to have a P 0 sequence , without a clear regional or ecological distribution pattern.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Insights into Ethiopian honey bee diversity based on wing geomorphometric and mitochondrial DNA analyses

et al. 2020

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Traditional beekeeping has been playing important socio-economic roles in Ethiopia for millennia. The country is situated in northeast Africa, where ranges of major evolutionary lineages of Apis mellifera adjoin. However, studies on the classification and distribution of subspecies and lineages of honey bees in the country are partly inconsistent, either proposing multiple subspecies and lineages or a unique A. m. simensis. This study was conducted with the aim of elucidating Ethiopian honey bees in reference to African subspecies and major global lineages using wing geometric morphometrics and COI-COII mitochondrial DNA analyses. For this purpose, 660 worker bees were collected from 66 colonies representing highland, midland, and lowland zones in different locations. Both methods indicated that the samples from this study form a distinct cluster together with A. m. simensis reference. In addition, forewing venation patterns showed that most of the Ethiopian samples are separate from all reference subspecies, except A. m. simensis. Analysis of COI-COII sequences revealed five DraI haplotypes (Y2, Y1, A1, and O5’), of which one was new denoted as Y3. Moreover, centroid size strongly associated with elevation. In conclusion, the results supported that Ethiopian honey bees are distinct both at lineage and subspecies levels; however, there is an indication of lineage O in the north.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Insights into Ethiopian honey bee diversity based on wing geomorphometric and mitochondrial DNA analyses

et al. 2020

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“…Amakpe et al in Benin, Africa, found no correlation between morphometric characters (mainly leg and wing length) and altitude of the inspected apiaries, although they described a positive south-north gradient in bee size. Moreover, they indicated that there was no difference between the morphometric characters between the different haplotype, same results as in the present study in Nicaragua [ 39 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…mellifera scutellata mitotype A4. The phylogenetic analysis indicated a similarity > 99.7% to sequences from Africa [ 39 ], Brazil [ 42 ] and Argentina [ 44 ], reinforcing the findings that this mitotype is found more frequently in subtropical and tropical areas [ 42 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Africanized honeybee population (Apis mellifera L.) in Nicaragua: Forewing length and mitotype lineages

et al. 2022

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Various subspecies of Apis mellifera L. were introduced to Central America since colonization 500 years ago. Hybridization increased with the entrance of the Africanized bee in Nicaragua in 1984. Rustic beekeeping activities and numerous feral swarms define the genetic pattern, reflected in phenotypic heterogeneity and remarkable differences in the behaviour of the bee colonies, especially the nest defence. Due to these facts, the question emerge about the degree of Africanization of honeybee colonies in Nicaragua. In this study, we identified Africanized honeybee colonies based on the single character "mean forewing length" and we corroborated our results by determining mitotypes using mtDNA analysis. Morphometric and genetic approaches were realized in three different geographical zones of Nicaragua and related to beehive characteristics and management. Worker bee samples were taken from the inside of 146 hives from 26 apiaries. Abdominal colour as phenotypic character was the first examination, followed by measurement of 1460 right forewings to determine corresponding probability of Africanization. More than 60% of the beehives showed phenotypic heterogeneity and mean forewing length of 8.74 mm (SD 0.16 mm) indicated a high degree of Africanization. Those results provided a selection of 96 worker bees to perform PCR of two worker bees per hive. For mitochondrial DNA analysis 14 samples from sentinel apiaries were added. Three from 61 beehives presented bees with different mtDNA. Throughout, three mitotypes of the African (A) lineage were detected; one mitotype is still unidentified. Mitotype A1 A. mellifera iberiensis was represented by 88 bees and mitotype A4 A. mellifera scutellata by 21 bees. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the PCR findings. No associations were found between mitotypes, forewing length, beehive characteristics and management. A high degree of Africanization in A. mellifera colonies represented by two predominating mitotypes from the A lineage, prevail in Neotropical Nicaragua, with mitotype A4 predominating at higher altitudes.

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“…Body characteristics of worker honeybee [ 12 , 21 – 29 ] and their comb cell size [ 30 , 31 ] vary among subspecies. Factors that affect worker body characteristics include pollen and nectar resources [ 32 ], content of dietary protein [ 33 , 34 ], rearing season [ 35 – 37 ], geographical location [ 38 , 39 ] and level of infestation by the Varroa mite, Varroa destructor [ 37 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphometric study of Yemeni (Apis mellifera jemenitica) and Carniolan (A. m. carnica) honeybee workers in Saudi Arabia

Al-Kahtani

Taha

2021

PLoS ONE

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The Yemeni honeybee (Apis mellifera jemenitica Ruttner) is the native race in Saudi Arabia. The Carniolan honeybee (A. m. carnica Pollmann) and its hybrid with the Egyptian honeybee (A. m. lamarkii Cockerell) have been imported and frequently reared in Saudi Arabia. Temperature often exceed 40 °C during the summer season in most regions of Saudi Arabia. Honeybees decrease foraging activity in this period during mid-day, which affect colony productivity. The Yemeni bee race appears well adapted to these unique climatic conditions. We compared body weight and morphometric parameters of both subspecies’ worker bees reared at the apiary of Training and Research Station, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa oasis of eastern Saudi Arabia. Measurements of Yemeni bee were smaller than Carniolan bee for body weight, head structures, including antenna, flagellum, and proboscis length, thorax appendages, including femur length, tibia length and width, metatarsus length and width of the right hind leg, and length and width of the right forewing and hind wing, abdominal characteristics, including the length of the 3rd and 4th abdominal tergites and sternites, and length and width of the 1st and 4th wax mirrors. It could be concluded that with the exception of the number of hamuli, worker Yemeni bee body size and morphometric parameters related to the colony productivity were smaller than Carniolan bees under environmental conditions of the study region.

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Characterization of Native Honey Bee Subspecies in Republic of Benin Using Morphometric and Genetic Tools

Cited by 9 publications

References 47 publications

Insights into Ethiopian honey bee diversity based on wing geomorphometric and mitochondrial DNA analyses

Insights into Ethiopian honey bee diversity based on wing geomorphometric and mitochondrial DNA analyses

Africanized honeybee population (Apis mellifera L.) in Nicaragua: Forewing length and mitotype lineages

Morphometric study of Yemeni (Apis mellifera jemenitica) and Carniolan (A. m. carnica) honeybee workers in Saudi Arabia

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