Do measurements of worker cell size reliably distinguish Africanized from European honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)?

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Persistent link to this item

Statistics
View Statistics

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Title

Do measurements of worker cell size reliably distinguish Africanized from European honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)?

Published Date

1992

Publisher

American Bee Journal

Type

Article

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to determine whether the size of the cells in which bees develop affects the size of the cells they subsequently construct. The results indicate that when the size of bees has been modified through the use of foundation with larger or smaller cell bases, bees will construct natural cells of a size consistent with their genetic origin. When 22 Africanized colonies were hived on commercial European foundation, they subsequently constructed ยท natural cells which were not significantly different in size from those of 66 Africanized colonies hived on all natural comb. Also, eight European colonies reared on noncommercial foundation with small cell bases subsequently constructed natural cells which were significantly larger than the cells from which they emerged. Therefore, averaging the width of 10 linear cells in three diagonal rows on naturally built comb is a relatively reliable and accurate method to distinguish between Africanized and European bees in the field. However, colonies with intermediate cell sizes, which may include some feral European colonies and "hybrids" between Africanized and European colonies, may not be evaluated with certainty.

Keywords

Description

Related to

Replaces

License

Collections

Series/Report Number

Funding information

Isbn identifier

Doi identifier

Previously Published Citation

Spivak, M., & Erickson Jr, E. (1992). Do measurements of worker cell size reliably distinguish Africanized from European honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)?. American Bee Journal, 132(4), 252-255.

Other identifiers

Suggested citation

Spivak, M.; Erickson, E. Jr.. (1992). Do measurements of worker cell size reliably distinguish Africanized from European honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)?. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/182026.

Content distributed via the University Digital Conservancy may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor. By using these files, users agree to the Terms of Use. Materials in the UDC may contain content that is disturbing and/or harmful. For more information, please see our statement on harmful content in digital repositories.