Morphometric studies ofApis ceranain Thailand and the Malaysian peninsula

Multivariate morphometric analysis of Apis cerana of southern mainland Asia

“…On the other hand, Sylvester et al (1998) concentrated specifically on the A. cerana of Thailand and peninsular Malaysia and discriminated four morphometric groups, all of which are synonymous with our morphocluster 4. While neither of these studies (Sylvester et al, 1998;Hepburn et al, 2001b) can be faulted on methodological grounds, in both cases they amply demonstrate that these fine discriminations are examples of how character suites, interlocality distance sampling, and more importantly, transect length affect the resolution of continuous populations .…”

“…However, a modicum of original raw data for several of the same localities and countries cited in these reports are available in the A. cerana database compiled by Ruttner at Oberursel. This fortunate coincidence allows a "goodness of fit" comparison to be made for the conclusions reached in Damus and Otis (1997) and Sylvester et al (1998).…”

“…The geographical origins of 8424 worker honeybees of A. cerana from 557 colonies at 179 localities used in the current analysis are listed in Table I and shown in Figure 1. Additional information was obtained from morphometric analyses of A. cerana from Thailand and Malaysia (Limbipichai, 1990;Damus, 1995;Damus and Otis, 1997;Sylvester et al, 1998). Only processed data are given in their publications and all of the original raw data have been lost (Otis and Sylvester, personal communications) thus precluding their direct incorporation in the current analysis.…”

“…In eastern Asia, A. cerana populations of both Thailand and Malaysia have recently been analyzed morphometrically (Limbipichai, 1990;Damus, 1995;Damus and Otis, 1997;Sylvester et al, 1998). However, the absence of morphometric data from A. cerana of Myanmar has precluded an analysis of the A. cerana of the western sector of Southeast Asia.…”

Morphometric analysis of Apis cerana populations in the southern Himalayan region

“…However, multivariate morphometric analyses of the former lag behind the latter and a recent survey of the literature shows that infraspecific classification and population structure in Apis cerana are fraught with difficulties (Hepburn et al, 2001). A beginning toward a resolution of this disparity is apparent from the recent publication of several such analyses for different parts of Asia (Sasaki, 1994;Deowanish et al, 1996;Damus and Otis, 1997;Sylvester et al, 1998;Sihanuntavong et al, 1999;de la Rúa et al, 2000;Smith et al, 2000;Tilde et al, 2000).…”