SThis research aimed to compare the morphometric of worker bees Apis cerana lives at different altitudes which were high altitude (500-<1000 m above sea level) and low altitude (0-100 m above sea level). The experimental animals were 50 Apis cerana collected from each altitudes. A projector microscope (LAS EZ V2.0.0) of 8x magnification was used in body measurement which was conducted in Animal Laboratory University of Bengkulu. Results showed that body weight, length of proboscis, femur length of worker bees of high and low altitude (introduced and local bees) are significantly different (P<0.05). However, the length of tibia, hind metatarsus, width of wings and and the forth abdominal tergit (P>0.05). The highest body weight and hind femur length werel observed in high and low altitudes. Infact, prosbocis length was the highest in low level altitude habitat. In contrasly, the measurement of length of hind femur was the highest in high altitude (kepahiyang) and the the longest proboscis was found in low altitude (Bengkulu city). The results indicate that the differences were due to the adaptation processes to the environment. It can be concluded that the altitude of habitat plays an important role to the morphometric of workers group of Apis cerana.
Keywords: Apis cerana, morphometric, the altitude
ABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk membandingkan morfometrik lebah madu pekerja Apis cerana berdasarkan perbedaan tempat hidup pada dataran tinggi (500-<1000 m dpl) dan dataran rendah (0-100 m dpl). Penelitian ini menggunakan sampel 50 ekor lebah Apis cerana di setiap lokasi. Pengukuran bagian tubuh lebah madu dilakukan di Laboratorium Peternakan Universitas Bengkulu dengan menggunakan mikroskop projektor (LAS EZ V2.0.0) perbesaran 8 kali. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa berat badan (BB), panjang probosis (PP) dan panjang femur tungkai belakang (PFB) lebah madu pekerja di dataran tinggi dan dataran rendah (lebah introduksi dan lebah alami) berbeda nyata (P<0,05), sedangkan panjang tibia, metatarsus tungkai belakang, panjang sayap, lebar sayap dan ukuran tergit ke-4 abdomen secara statistik tidak ada perbedaan (P>0,05). Berat badan dan panjang femur tungkai belakang tertinggi diperoleh pada lebah madu dataran tinggi Novita, Rustama Saepudin, Sutriyono