Apidologie 39 (2008) 343-353
DOI: 10.1051/apido:2008014

Multivariate morphometric analysis of the Apis cerana of China

Ken Tan^{1, 2}, H. Randall Hepburn^{2, 3}, Sarah E. Radloff⁴, Stefan Fuchs⁵, Xian Fan², Lianjiang Zhang² and Mingxian Yang<sup>2

1</sup>  Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Kunming 650223, Yunnan Province, China
²  Eastern Bee Research Institute of Yunnan Agricultural University, Heilongtan, Kunming, 650201, China
³  Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
⁴  Department of Statistics, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
⁵  Institut für Bienenkunde (Polytechnische Gesellschaft), Fachbereich Biowissenschaften der J.-W. Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main, 61440 Oberursel, Germany

Received 25 January 2007 - Revised 8 January 2008 - Accepted 29 January 2008 - Published online 28 May 2008

Abstract - Multivariate statistical analyses of the morphometric characters of worker bees of Apis cerana were collected from 188 colonies at 68 localities throughout China with a sampling resolution of 1 locality/50 000 km². Principal components plots revealed one morphocluster. By introducing local labeling it become clear that bees from different localities form overlapping regional clusters: 1. bees from Jinlin, Liaoning, Beijing and northern Shanxi provinces; 2. larger bees from southern Ganshu and northern and central Sichuan; 3. smaller bees from southern Yunnan, Guangdon, Guangxi, Hong Kong and Hainan; 4. bees from the rest of China. Hierarchical cluster analysis using data for the China regional groups 1 to 4 and adjacent countries yielded a dendrogram of two main clusters. Colonies from Japan, Korea and Russia were linked with those from China regional groups 1, 2 and 4; colonies from northern Vietnam, north eastern India, Thailand and Myanmar were linked with those from China regional group 3. A. cerana populations are continuous and panmictic, and morphometric structuring is indistinct.

Key words: morphometric analysis / Apis cerana / China


© INRA, DIB-AGIB, EDP Sciences 2008