Abstract
In this study, the morphometric diversity and phylogenetic relationships of Iranian honey bee populations, were investigated using 14 morphometric characteristics. A total of 2250 young adult worker bees from 20 different populations in 20 different provinces of Iran were collected during June to October 2014. The results of nested analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences (P<0.01) between the provinces for all analyzed morphometric traits indicating the existence of a diversity among them. Correlation coefficient analysis showed a high degree of association among the most of the traits. This correlation coefficient should be a putative mean to improve of certain characters in breeding of honey bee. Principal component analysis revealed three principal components explained 81.5% of the total variation. Cluster analysis using WARD method classified honey bee populations into two main groups. The first group includes the honey bees collected from North, Northwest and West portions of Iran. The second group was represented by the honey bees from Eastern North, Central and Southern regions of Iran. The phylogenetic tree based on UPGMA method divided 29 subspecies of honey bee to 5 distinct clusters. The Iranian subspecies honey bee composed of a shared clade with subspecies of Eastern Mediterranean, Near East and Eastern parts of Middle East (O branch).
Highlights
Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) as a natural component of the local biota and beneficial insects make an important contribution to honey, wax, propolis, royal jelly, bee poison production and they are most important pollinators, too by helping plants reproduce and increases in agricultural productivity and environmental conservation (Maganus & Tripodi, 2011; Rahimi et al, 2014 B)
The results showed that there were five subspecies of honey bee in our collected samples from different regions of Iran as follows; Apis mellifera meda, Apis mellifera ligustica, Apis mellifera carnica, subspecies hybrid midnite and subspecies hybrid Star-Line
Certain resistance against diseases and pests which attack to honey bees in Iran have been acquired by this subspecies (Ruttner, 1978; Tahmasebi et al, 1998)
Summary
Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) as a natural component of the local biota and beneficial insects make an important contribution to honey, wax, propolis, royal jelly, bee poison production and they are most important pollinators, too by helping plants reproduce and increases in agricultural productivity and environmental conservation (Maganus & Tripodi, 2011; Rahimi et al, 2014 B). In sixteenth century by the human migrations to Oceanic islands and to North and South American continents, the honey bees were transported into the new continents. In such a distribution over vast area, many factors such as geographical isolation and ecological adaptations caused the appearance of different populations and emergence of new subspecies (Ruttner et al, 1978; Ruttner, 1988; Tahmasebi et al, 1998; Rahimi & Asadi, 2010). Twenty nine subspecies and many ecotypes of honey bees recorded from different locations in the world. These subspecies were characterized based on a set of characteristic (morphological, behavioral and molecular) and divided into five evolutionary groups; subspecies from West Mediterranean and North-West European group (M), subspecies from South and Central Africa group (A), subspecies from Central Mediterranean and South Eastern European group (C), subspecies from East Mediterranean, Near East and Eastern
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