THE SOUTH-EASTERN DISTRIBUTION LIMIT OF Apis mellifera, A MORPHOMETRIC STUDY OF THE HONEY BEES (Apis mellifera L.) OF SISTAN-BELUTSCHISTAN

Year 2016, Volume: 16 Issue: 2, 67 - 75, 28.04.2017

Stefan Fuchs

https://doi.org/10.31467/uluaricilik.379492

Abstract

The western honeybee, Apis mellifera, covers an immense range of natural distribution. In contrast
to the limits in the North, West and South defined by the sea, the continental limits in the East are far
less clear. Here we present detailed morphometric data on the Bees of Sistan-Belutschistan in the far
South-Eastern End of the A. mellifera distribution. These are of particular interest because they
inhabit a comparatively narrow desert climate land strip separating the distribution range from the
Eastern honey bee, Apis cerana. Samples from the area differed quite substantially from the nextneighboured
Iran bee population, particularly by small body size, short hair, coloration patterns, and
comparatively broad wings, but were clearly allocated to A. m. meda rather than to other
representative A. mellifera subspecies. The study expands the South-Eastern range of A. m. meda by
a particularly heat-adapted subpopulation, considerably narrowing the geographic gap to A. cerana
in Pakistan. 

Keywords

Apis mellifera meda, distribution range, morphometry

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