Free Access
| Issue |
Apidologie
Volume 25, Number 1, 1994
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|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 61 - 70 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/apido:19940107 | |
Apidologie 25 (1994) 61-70
DOI: 10.1051/apido:19940107
a University of the Witwatersrand, Department of Zoology, Johannesburg, 6140 South Africa
b Rhodes University, Department of Zoology and Entomology, Grahamstown, 6140 South Africa
c Institut für Biologie, Technische Universität Berlin, D1000 Berlin 10, Germany
Key words: Apis mellifera capensis / Apis mellifera scutellata / morphometry / race / South Africa
DOI: 10.1051/apido:19940107
Morphometric analysis of 2 southern African races of honeybee
R.M. Crewea, H.R. Hepburnb and R.F.A. Moritzca University of the Witwatersrand, Department of Zoology, Johannesburg, 6140 South Africa
b Rhodes University, Department of Zoology and Entomology, Grahamstown, 6140 South Africa
c Institut für Biologie, Technische Universität Berlin, D1000 Berlin 10, Germany
Abstract - A suite of 10 morphological characters was identified that discriminated between the 2 southern African honeybee races, Apis mellifera capensis and A m scutellata. Collections of samples from 32 localities which spanned the sub-continent from the west coast to the east coast and ranged from Cape Town in the south to north of Johannesburg were used to define the current distribution of the 2 races and the hybrid zone between them. The data obtained from the morphometric analysis are in good agreement with data on laying worker reproduction.
Key words: Apis mellifera capensis / Apis mellifera scutellata / morphometry / race / South Africa