<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Honey bees collected from 32 different localities in Greece were studied based on the geometric morphometrics approach using the coordinates of 19 landmarks located at wing vein intersections. Procrustes analysis, principal component analysis, and Canonical variate analysis (CVA) detected population variability among the studied samples. According to the Principal component analysis (PCA ) of pooled data from each locality, the most differentiated populations were the populations from the Aegean island localities Astypalaia, Chios, and Kythira. However, the populations with the most distant according to the canonical variate analysis performed on all measurements were the populations from Heraklion and Chania (both from Crete island). These results can be used as a starting point for the use of geometric morphometrics in the discrimination of honey bee populations in Greece and the establishment of conservation areas for local honey bee populations.</p></abstract>

Honey bees collected from 32 different localities in Greece were studied based on the geometric morphometrics approach using the coordinates of 19 landmarks located at wing vein intersections. Procrustes analysis, principal component analysis, and Canonical variate analysis (CVA) detected population variability among the studied samples. According to the Principal component analysis (PCA ) of pooled data from each locality, the most differentiated populations were the populations from the Aegean island localities Astypalaia, Chios, and Kythira. However, the populations with the most distant according to the canonical variate analysis performed on all measurements were the populations from Heraklion and Chania (both from Crete island). These results can be used as a starting point for the use of geometric morphometrics in the discrimination of honey bee populations in Greece and the establishment of conservation areas for local honey bee populations.

Morphological Discrimination of Greek Honey Bee Populations Based on Geometric Morphometrics Analysis of Wing Shape

Hellenic Institute of Apiculture, Hellenic Agricultural Org. ‘DEMETER’, Nea Moudania, 63 200, Greece

Lab of Agricultural Zoology and Entomology, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos Str., Athens, 11855, Greece

Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080 Zemun, Belgrade, Serbia

MELETITIKI S.E.M-H Ltd, 36 D. Soutsou Str., Athens, 11521, Greece

Journal of Apicultural Science

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Honey bees collected from 32 different localities in Greece were studied based on the geometric morphometrics approach using the coordinates of 19 landmarks...

Morphological Discrimination of Greek Honey Bee Populations Based on Geometric Morphometrics Analysis of Wing Shape

Published Online: May 27, 2014

Page range: 75 - 84

Received: Jun 25, 2013

Accepted: Feb 24, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jas-2014-0007

Keywords
Apis mellifera, geometric morphometrics, Greece, morphological discrimination

© by Fani Hatjina

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Morphological Discrimination of Greek Honey Bee Populations Based on Geometric Morphometrics Analysis of Wing Shape

Published Online: May 27, 2014

Page range: 75 - 84

Received: Jun 25, 2013

Accepted: Feb 24, 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jas-2014-0007

KeywordsApis mellifera, geometric morphometrics, Greece, morphological discrimination

© by Fani Hatjina

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords
Apis mellifera, geometric morphometrics, Greece, morphological discrimination