Variation in the morphological characters of the Indian honey bee Apis cerana indica (Fabr.) from northern to southern India

Abstract

The Asian honey bee Apis cerana is widely spread in temperate and tropical Asia and recognized as four subspecies including the Indian honey bee Apis cerana indica. This is known to have considerable morphometric variation in various parts of India. In this study, sixty samples were collected from 12 districts of the Tamil Nadu covering different biogeographical regions and 35 morphometric characters were measured, of which 24 were compared with the morphometrics of bees from elsewhere in India. It is found that the morphometric features of the bees of Tamil Nadu show a wide range of variation and found a close relationship between morphology and ecological zone of origin of the bees.