Morphological Characters of Some Important Races and Ecotypes of Turkish Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.)-II

Authors: AHMET GÜLER, OSMAN KAFTANOĞLU

Abstract: This study was conducted to determine the morphological characters of some important honeybee (A. mellifera L.) races and ecotypes in Turkey. Experimental samples were collected from 6 different regions such as Central Anatolia Region (Beypazary), North Eastern Anatolia Region (Posof), Marmara Region (Gökçeada); Thrace Region (Saray), Aegean Region (Fethiye) and Mediterranean Region (Erdemli). In this study total of 41 morphological characters were measured: Twenty morphological characters including length of fore wing (longitudinal), width of fore wing (transversal), cubital vein distance a, cubital vein distance b, angles of wing venation A_4, B_4, D_7, E_9, G_{12}, J_{10}, J_{16}, K_{19}, N_{23} and O_{26}, pigmentation of tergite 2, 3, 4 and scutellum were evaluated here. It was found that there were not any variation between genotypes regarding forewing weight, wing venations B_4, E_9, J_{10} and N_{23}. However, there were significant variations between genotypes as for 16 characters. It was seen that some genotypes have differentiation characters regarding their morphological structure.

Keywords: Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) races and ecotypes of Turkey, morphological characters

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