Multivariate Morphometric Study on Apis florea Distributed in Iran

Authors: AYÇA ÖZKAN, MOHAMMED M. GHARLEKO, BERNA ÖZDEN, İRFAN KANDEMİR

Abstract: Multivariate Morphometric and Spatial Autocorrelation Analyses were performed to determine the morphometric variation in Apis florea colonies representing 13 localities from 4 states on the coastal north-south diagonal in Iran. New morphometric characters (hind wing length, hind wing width, and hind wing angles) were also measured to determine the usefulness of these characters for Apis florea. Analysis of variance of new morphometric characters showed that 7 out of the 8 hind wing variables displayed statistically significant differences among populations (P < 0.05). The scatter plot from Canonical Variate Analysis revealed that the colonies from north (Ilam, Khuzestan, and Bushehr states) showed an overlapping distribution. The colonies from south (Hormuzgan state) formed a non-overlapping distant cluster. Based on the spatial autocorrelation analysis, 14 correlograms were significant for morphometric characters (According to the Bonferroni criterion). Six characters (CuB, C.Ind, HWW, B4, D7, and I13) showed clinal type correlogram.

Keywords: Apis florea, Iran, Morphometry, Multivariate morphometric analysis, Spatial autocorrelation

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