Morphometric characterization of Apis cerana hainana (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Hainan province, P.R. China

Abstract

The morphometric divergence between Apis cerana hainana and A. cerana remains uncertain. To differentiate A. cerana hainana from A. cerana, we investigate the morphological characteristics of A. cerana hainana from different geographical locations in Hainan Province. Our results revealed that the mean morphological characteristics of A. cerana hainana were lower than that of A. cerana previously reported, and there were significant differences in 14 morphological characteristics in different locations (P < 0.05), which suggested that A. cerana hainana showed geographical variability. The principal component analysis results demonstrated that the hind leg, wax mirror, length of tergum 4, forewing, sternum 3 and sternum 6 can be used as the main morphological characteristics in distinguishing A. cerana hainana.

Keywords:

• Apis cerana hainana
• morphometrical character
• principal component analysis

Acknowledgments

We thank the generous beekeepers of Hainan Province who provided honey bee colonies for this study. We are grateful to Dr. Abebe Wubie for reviewing our manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplementary Figures S1, S2, S3 and Table S1 are available via the ‘Supplementary’ tab on the article’s online page (https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2020.1753326).

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31402145), Natural Science Foundation of Hainan Province of China (Grant No. 20153082) and the Earmarked Fund for Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System (CARS-45-SYZ13, CARS-45-KXJ10).