Multivariate morphometric analysis of Apis cerana of southern mainland Asia

Free access article

Issue		Apidologie Volume 36, Number 1, January-March 2005


Page(s)		127 - 139
DOI		10.1051/apido:2004077
Published online		16 March 2005

Apidologie 36 (2005) 127-139
DOI: 10.1051/apido:2004077

Multivariate morphometric analysis of Apis cerana of southern mainland Asia

Sarah E. Radloff^a, H. Randall Hepburn^b, C. Hepburn^a, Stefan Fuchs^c, Gard W. Otis^d, M.M. Sein^e, H.L. Aung^e, H.T. Pham^f, D.Q. Tam^f, A.M. Nuru^a and Tan Ken^g

^a Department of Statistics, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
^b Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
^c Institut für Bienenkunde, 61440 Oberursel, Germany
^d Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
^e Beekeeping Department, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Yangon, Myanmar
^f Bee Research and Development Center, Langha, Dongda, Hanoi, Vietnam
^g Eastern Bee Research Institute, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China

(Received 25 July 2003 - Revised 18 June 2004 - Accepted 19 July 2004; Published online: 16 March 2005)

Abstract - Multivariate morphometric analyses were performed on a series of worker honeybees, Apis cerana, representing 557 colonies from all of southern mainland Asia extending from Afghanistan to Vietnam south of the Himalayas. Scores from the principal components analysis revealed five statistically separable but not entirely distinct morphoclusters of bees: (1) the Hindu Kush, Kashmir, N. Myanmar, N. Vietnam and S. China; (2) Himachal Pradesh region of N. India; (3) N. India, Nepal; (4) central and S. Myanmar and Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, S. China and peninsular Malaysia; (5) central and S. India. The major morphoclusters are distributed coherently with the different climatic zones of the region. While populations are definable, nomenclatural adjustments remain for the future.

Key words: Apis cerana / honeybees / subspecific taxon / morphocluster / morphometry / southern mainland Asia

Corresponding author: Sarah E. Radloff s.radloff@ru.ac.za

© INRA, DIB-AGIB, EDP Sciences 2005

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