Ortadoğu'da yayılış gösteren Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera:Apidae) alttürlerinin geometrik morfometri yöntemleriyle analizi
Özet
Until today, honey bee subspecies in the Middle East ?O lineages? included the subspecies Apis mellifera anatolica, A. m. caucasica, A. m. cypria, A. m. meda, , A. m. adami, A. m. syriaca, A. m. armeniaca and A. m. pomonella have been discriminated by standard morphometric and genetic analyses. The aim of this thesis is to discriminate honey bee subspecies except A. m. adami, A. m. armeniaca and A. m. syriaca in the Middle East ?O lineages?, by using geometric morphometric approach based on Landmark and Outline methods. A total of 495 colonies from the distributional areas (Turkey, Cyprus, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan) of subspecies were evaluated for the statistical analysis in this thesis. For Landmark method, two dimensional x, y Cartesian coordinates of identified landmarks on forewing were obtained. Landmarks were superimposed by using a generalized procrustes algorithm and data were used for statistical analysis. On the other hand, for Outline method seven wing cell shape differences were studied by Elliptic Fourier Analysis (EFA). Set of Fourier coefficients (FCs) for each wing cell were used in order to Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) of all subspecies. In DFA based on landmark data, colonies of all subspecies were clearly separated from each others. In DFA based on combinated data of EFA of three wing cells (2nd submarginal cell, 3nd submarginal cell and 2nd cubital cell), A. m. caucasica, A. m. cypria, A. m. pomonella and colonies of A. m. meda in the Iran and Iraq were clearly separated from each others. Colonies of A. m. anatoliaca and colonies of A. m. meda in the East and Southeast Anatolia showed overlapping clusters. According to shape analyses of all cells, the most distinguishable characters were 1st submarginal, 2nd submarginal, 3rd submarginal, 1st medial and 2nd cubital cells. In the analysis to distinguish the differences between Middle Eastern subspecies, 3rd submarginal cell having the morphometrical cubital a and b values was found to be the most distinguishable character. In conclusion, shape analysis of honey bee wings based on landmark method have been widely used discriminate honeybee subspecies and populations. Shape analysis of wing cells could be used in lower or higher taxonomic levels in order to find geographic variations, shape differences, population structure or taxonomic categorization in honey bees. Moreover, Geometric morphometric analysis of wing and wing cells may have advantages over standard morphometric analysis.