Free Access
Issue
Apidologie
Volume 27, Number 1, 1996
Page(s) 35 - 45
DOI https://doi.org/10.1051/apido:19960105
Apidologie 27 (1996) 35-45
DOI: 10.1051/apido:19960105

Morphometric and pheromonal analyses of Apis mellifera L along a transect from the Sahara to the Pyrenees

H.R. Hepburna and S.E. Radloffb

a  Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
b  Department of Statistics, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa

Abstract - Pheromones and morphological characteristics of worker honeybees from Morocco and Spain were analyzed with multivariate statistical methods. Principal component and stepwise discriminant analyses yielded three morphological clusters, corresponding to sahariensis and intermissa (including the ecotype major) in Morocco and to iberica (with three biometric populations) in Spain, but no pheromone clusters. Inter-colonial variances for all characteristics formed significant asymmetries within the areas of classically defined subspecies. These were complemented by trends in intra-colonial variance. The combined morphometric and pheromonal variance spectra indicate regions of natural hybridization along a Sahara-Pyrenees transect.


Key words: honeybee / population genetics / morphometrics / pheromone / N Africa / Spain