Clinal morphometric variation in wild honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in South Africa
- Steele, G R, Villet, Martin H, Radloff, Sarah E, Hepburn, H Randall
- Authors: Steele, G R , Villet, Martin H , Radloff, Sarah E , Hepburn, H Randall
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/442622 , vital:74015 , https://www.jstor.org/stable/2999809
- Description: As a result of side effects of the accidental dispersal of the Cape honey bee, it has become of agroeconomic importance to delineate the region within South Africa where thelytokous worker honey bees occur so that apicultural movement of bees does not exacerbate the problem. Thelytokous workers are believed to be unique to Apis mellifera capensis, so that the problem is to find morphological markers distinguishing this race from its A. m. scutellata neighbours. However, no evidence of the expected hybrid zone demarcating races could be found. Factor analysis revealed only one spherical cluster of samples. Trend surfaces of the local mean morphometric factor scores showed a cline that paralleled latitude, with distortions relating to montane and continental effects. Discriminant function analysis implicated certain mountain ranges in amplifying the effects of latitude. Trend surfaces of local intercolony factor variance showed morphometric homogeneity across most of the country. We conclude that there is only a single population of honey bees in South Africa, and that it shows climate-correlated clinal variation. If the transportation of bees for commercial apiculture is to be successfully regulated to solve the `capensis calamity', further research should focus on the geographical distribution of thelytokous workers rather than on the capensis phenotype. Such workers have a wider distribution than capensis, occurring also at high frequencies around the type locality of A. m. scutellata.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Steele, G R , Villet, Martin H , Radloff, Sarah E , Hepburn, H Randall
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/442622 , vital:74015 , https://www.jstor.org/stable/2999809
- Description: As a result of side effects of the accidental dispersal of the Cape honey bee, it has become of agroeconomic importance to delineate the region within South Africa where thelytokous worker honey bees occur so that apicultural movement of bees does not exacerbate the problem. Thelytokous workers are believed to be unique to Apis mellifera capensis, so that the problem is to find morphological markers distinguishing this race from its A. m. scutellata neighbours. However, no evidence of the expected hybrid zone demarcating races could be found. Factor analysis revealed only one spherical cluster of samples. Trend surfaces of the local mean morphometric factor scores showed a cline that paralleled latitude, with distortions relating to montane and continental effects. Discriminant function analysis implicated certain mountain ranges in amplifying the effects of latitude. Trend surfaces of local intercolony factor variance showed morphometric homogeneity across most of the country. We conclude that there is only a single population of honey bees in South Africa, and that it shows climate-correlated clinal variation. If the transportation of bees for commercial apiculture is to be successfully regulated to solve the `capensis calamity', further research should focus on the geographical distribution of thelytokous workers rather than on the capensis phenotype. Such workers have a wider distribution than capensis, occurring also at high frequencies around the type locality of A. m. scutellata.
- Full Text:
Ecological and morphological differentiation of the honeybees. Apis mellitera linnaeus (Hymenoptera: Apidae). of West Africa
- Radloff, Sarah E, Hepburn, H Randall, Fuchs, S
- Authors: Radloff, Sarah E , Hepburn, H Randall , Fuchs, S
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/451832 , vital:75080 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA10213589_253
- Description: Morphometric characters of worker honeybees, Apis mellifera Linnaeus, were analysed by multivariate methods to characterize their populations in the sahelian, dry and wet tropical and equatorial regions of western and eastern Africa (mainly between 0 and 15 N latitude, 18 W and 39""E longitude). Two distinct morphocIusters and azoneof hybridization between them were identified. The bees are identified as Apis mellifera adansonii Latreille and A. m. jemenitica Ruttrter. The former subspecies is distributed in the equatorial and wet tropical regions, the latter in the dry tropical and sahelian eco-climatic zones. The hybrid zone extends into the two tropical and savanna biomes and it is suggested that the stability of the hybridization zone is largely the effect of extensive annual fire in the region.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Radloff, Sarah E , Hepburn, H Randall , Fuchs, S
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/451832 , vital:75080 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA10213589_253
- Description: Morphometric characters of worker honeybees, Apis mellifera Linnaeus, were analysed by multivariate methods to characterize their populations in the sahelian, dry and wet tropical and equatorial regions of western and eastern Africa (mainly between 0 and 15 N latitude, 18 W and 39""E longitude). Two distinct morphocIusters and azoneof hybridization between them were identified. The bees are identified as Apis mellifera adansonii Latreille and A. m. jemenitica Ruttrter. The former subspecies is distributed in the equatorial and wet tropical regions, the latter in the dry tropical and sahelian eco-climatic zones. The hybrid zone extends into the two tropical and savanna biomes and it is suggested that the stability of the hybridization zone is largely the effect of extensive annual fire in the region.
- Full Text:
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