Morphological Study of Honeybee (<i> Apis mellifera </i>L.) in Iran

The first step in fundamental breeding of any living organism is the determination of its genetic make-up. To investigate the genetic make-up of the European honeybee (Apis mellifera L</em>.) in Iran, some research attempts were made during the years 1992-1996 in which the bee's relationship with some exotic races were determined through the application of morphological methods. For this purpose 13000 samples of worker bees from 1320 colonies of 212 apiaries in 104 cities at 25 provinces were taken and twelve morphological characters were measured by using the international method (Ruttner, 1978). Furthermore, seven morphological characters of 900 drone samples taken from 403 colonies of 111 apiaries in 42 cities at 10 provinces were studied through the same method. The principle component analysis (PCA) was used for statistical analysis of the data obtained. The results indicated that the existing populations of honeybees under study were of the Iranian honeybee race (Apis mellifera m</em>eda) which were completely distinguishable from those of imported races such as A.m. carnica, A.m. ligustica, A.m. caucasica and exotic races such as A.m. anatoliaca, A.m. syriaca A.m. yemenitica</em> and A.m. lamarkii</em>. The imported races had not had great genetic impact on the Iranian race, as the Iranian honeybees have had good consistency and stability. In addition, import of the exotic queens has been ceased in the last decade.