Morphological characters of some important races and ecotypes of Turkish honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) - II

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the morphological characters of some important honeybee (A. mellifera L.) races and ecotypes in Turkey. Experimental samples were collected from 6 different regions such as Central Anatolia Region (Beypazary), North Eastern Anatolia Region (Posof), Marmara Region (Gokceada): Thrace Region (Saray), Aegean Region (Fethiye) and Mediterranean Region (Erdemli). In this study total of 41 morphological characters were measured: Twenty morphological characters including length of fore wing (longitudinal), width of fore wing (transversal), cubital vein distance a, cubital vein distance b, angles of wing venation A(4) B-4, D-7, E-9 G(12), J(10), J(16), K-19, N-23 and O-26, pigmentation of tergite 2, 3, 4 and scutellum were evaluated here. It was found that there were not any variation between genotypes regarding forewing weight, wing venations B-4, E-9, J(10) and N-23 However, there were significant variations between genotypes as for 16 characters. It was seen that some genotypes have differentiation characters regarding their morphological structure.