GÜLER, Ahmet Ondokuzmayıs Üniversitesi - Ziraat Fakültesi - Zootekni Bölümü, Turkey , BIYIK, Selim Ondokuzmayıs Üniversitesi - Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü - Zootekni Anabilim Dalı, Turkey , GÜLER, Mustafa Ondokuzmayıs Üniversitesi - Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü - Zootekni Anabilim Dalı, Turkey

MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE HONEY BEE (Apis mellifera L.) POPULATION OF THE WESTERN BLACK SEA REGION

33849

This study was conducted in order to determine and identify the morphological characteristics of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) population in the western Black Sea region. A total of 102 experimental worker honey bee samples were collected from Zonguldak, Sakarya, Bolu, Düzce, Kastamonu and Sinop provinces. From each sample, 15 workers were examined and 37 morphological characteristics were measured biometrically. Except length of cubital a vein (a), vein angle B4, cubital index (CI) and metatarsal index (MI), significant (P 0.05, P 0.01 and P 0.001) differences were found between the samples depending on the provinces where bees were located, with respect to other 33 morphological characters. The most discriminative morphological character of the region’s bee population was found to be the colour of scutellum. The worker bee samples of Zonguldak, Sakarya, Bolu and Düzce provinces were likely more resemble to each other than to those of the other provinces, particularly the bees of Duzce overlapped with those of Sakarya and Bolu provinces. It was found that the bees of the western Black Sea region were distant from the Anatolian honey bee subspecies (A. m. anatoliaca) but they were more similar to the honey bee populations of the Aegean region and Gökçeada island, in terms of morphology

39

Honeybee , Apis mellifera , Western Black Sea , morphology , identify

Anadolu Journal Of Agricultural Sciences

46