MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE HONEY BEE (Apis mellifera L.) POPULATION OF THE WESTERN BLACK SEA REGION

Abstract

Bu calismada Bati Karadeniz Bolgesi ari populasyonu toplam 37 morfolojik karakter yonunden tanimlanmistir. Bolgenin Zonguldak, Sakarya, Bolu, Duzce, Kastamonu ve Sinop illerinden toplam 102 isci ari ornegi degerlendirilmistir. Farkli illerden alinan ornekler arasinda cubital a damar uzunlugu (a), kanat B4 damar acisi, cubital indeks (CI) ve metatarsal indeks (MI) karakterlerince varyasyon belirlenmemistir. Diger 33 morfolojik karakter yonunden onemli varyasyon bulunmustur. Bolgenin yerli arisi icin ayirt edici en onemli morfolojik karakter scutellum rengidir. Bolge icerisinde Zonguldak, Sakarya, Bolu ve Duzce populasyonu digerlerinden daha fazla birbirlerine benzer ve ayri bir kume olusturmuslardir. Duzce yoresi arisi Sakarya ve Bolu arilariyla belirli duzeyde cakismislardir (overlaping). Bolge arilari morfolojik yapi yonunden Anadolu arisi (A. m. anatoliaca) ile bir benzerlik gostermemis ve daha cok Ege ve Gokceada arilarina benzer bulunmustur. MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE HONEY BEE (Apis mellifera L.) POPULATION OF THE WESTERN BLACK SEA REGION This study was conducted in order to determine and identify the morphological characteristics of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) population in the western Black Sea region. A total of 102 experimental worker honey bee samples were collected from Zonguldak, Sakarya, Bolu, Duzce, Kastamonu and Sinop provinces. From each sample, 15 workers were examined and 37 morphological characteristics were measured biometrically. Except length of cubital a vein (a), vein angle B4, cubital index (CI) and metatarsal index (MI), significant (P<0.05, P<0.01 and P<0.001) differences were found between the samples depending on the provinces where bees were located, with respect to other 33 morphological characters. The most discriminative morphological character of the region’s bee population was found to be the colour of scutellum. The worker bee samples of Zonguldak, Sakarya, Bolu and Duzce provinces were likely more resemble to each other than to those of the other provinces, particularly the bees of Duzce overlapped with those of Sakarya and Bolu provinces. It was found that the bees of the western Black Sea region were distant from the Anatolian honey bee subspecies (A. m. anatoliaca) but they were more similar to the honey bee populations of the Aegean region and Gokceada island, in terms of morphology.