Maternal Inheritance in Hybrids of Three Honey Bee Subspecies

Abstract

The identification of honey bee (Apis mellifera) subspecies is often based on the measurements of workers’ fore-wings. The interpretation of the measurements can be difficult because the phenotype of workers is affected by both genetic and environmental factors. Moreover, it is not clear how the phenotype is affected by maternal inheritance. We have used the methodology of geometric morphometrics to verify if hybrids of honey bee subspecies and their backcrosses are more similar to either the father or mother colony. The comparison was based on fore-wing venation of three honey bee subspecies: A. m. carnica, A. m. caucasica, A. m. mellifera. First generation hybrids and backcrosses of those subspecies were obtained through instrumental insemination. Workers of the hybrids were compared with their parental colonies. The shape of wing venation was more similar to the maternal than to parental colony. This phenomenon was particularly visible in first generation of hybrids but it was also present in backcrosses. There were also symptoms of genetic dominance of some subspecies but this effect interacted with maternal inheritance and was difficult to interpret.

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) wing images: a tool for identification and conservation

“…The high proportion of samples assigned to lineage A may also be related to the fact that hybrids between lineages are more likely to be classified as lineage A. Those hybrids have an intermediate phenotype [ 85 ], similar to the mean shape of all lineages.…”

Geographical Variation of Honey Bee (Apis mellifera L. 1758) Populations in South-Eastern Morocco: A Geometric Morphometric Analysis

“…Surprisingly, the present population of south-eastern Morocco was not intermediate in the CVA representation between reference samples of A. m. sahariensis and A. m. intermissa . The cluster of a ‘hybrid’ group between two honey bee subspecies is expected to present a wing venation similar to the average shape of the two subspecies of origin [ 32 ]. However, in two other studies [ 33 , 34 ], the hybrids presented in discriminant function graphs formed a separate cluster of points which were also not intermediate between the clusters of the original, ‘pure’ subspecies.…”

Dataset of wing venation measurements for Apis mellifera caucasica, A. mellifera carnica and A. mellifera mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae), their hybrids and backcrosses

“…These subspecies are commonly maintained in Poland. Methodology described by Węgrzynowicz et al (2019) was used in order to obtain the parental generation of bees from A. mellifera carnica , A.…”

“…Owen 2012 , Perrard et al 2014 , Rossa et al 2016 , Breitkreuz et al 2017 , Loh et al 2017 , Jacquelin et al 2018 ). In honeybees ( Apis mellifera ), the measurement of wing venation is used for subspecies determination ( Tofilski 2008 , Gerula et al 2009 , Tofilski 2010 , Francoy et al 2012 , Santana et al 2014 , da Silva et al 2015 , Węgrzynowicz et al 2019 Gerula et al 2009 , Santana et al 2014 , Tofilski 2008 , Węgrzynowicz et al 2019 ). Due to a significant correlation between morphometric and molecular methods, the measurements and analysis of wing veins are a cost-effective and reliable identification measure ( Miguel et al 2011 , Oleksa and Tofilski 2015 , Henriques et al 2020 Oleksa and Tofilski 2015 ).…”