Morphometrics is a relatively powerful analytical tool for the identification of distinct species and subspecies of bees. Typically, within honey bees (Apidae: Apis), morphometric analysis has been used to differentiate the groups and species by using multiple body characteristics. However, these procedures are time-consuming for the suitable preparation of the samples and orientating each part into the correct plane for accurate measurement. Here, we were able to discriminate four honey bee species based on their wing venation pattern information only. Geometric morphometric measurements of the right forewing of drones and workers of Apis andreniformis Smith, Apis cerana F., Apis dorsata F., and Apis florea F. were analyzed. The results demonstrated that the patterns of forewing venation of native Thai honey bees between sexes in the same species were more closely related to each other than to honey bees of the same sex in another species. The wing venation pattern carried sufficient information to discriminate 99% of the individuals, and so the geometric morphometric analysis of the wing alone could be used to identify Asian honey bee species in most circumstances. In addition, the sex of the individual did not obstruct identification. Therefore, morphometric analysis of a single wing might be a useful tool for biodiversity studies of bees and other insects or fossil records. Many insect fossils are only known from a wing, including several fossil honey bees.

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The small dwarf honey bee, Apis andreniformis, is a rare and patchily distributed Apis spp. and is one of the native Thai honey bees, yet little is known about its biodiversity. Thirty (27 Thai and 3 Malaysian) and 37 (32 Thai and 5 Malaysian) colonies of A. andreniformis were sampled for morphometric and genetic analysis, respectively. For morphometric analysis, 20 informative characters were used to determine the variation. After plotting the factor scores, A. andreniformis from across Thailand were found to belong to one group, a notion further supported by a cluster analysis generated dendrogram. However, clinal patterns in groups of bee morphometric characters were revealed by linear regression analysis. The body size of bees increases from South to North but decreases from West to East, although this may reflect altitude rather than longitude. Genetic variation was determined by sequence analysis of a 520 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit b (cytb). DNA polymorphism among bees from the mainland of Thailand is lower than that from Phuket Island and Chiang Mai. Although two main different groups of bees were obtained from phylogenetic trees constructed by neighbor-joining and unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages programs, no clear geographic signal was present. Thus, while the minor group (B) contained all of the samples from the only island sampled (Phuket in the south), but not the southern mainland colonies, it also contained samples from the far northern inland region of Chiang Mai, other samples of which were firmly rooted in the major group (A).

Stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini) are one of the most important pollinators of native plants and economic crops in tropical and subtropical parts of the world. They not only establish large perennial colonies with complex social organization but also have a diverse nesting biology. The economic utilization of a total of 60 stingless bee species in Asia has been reported. The current status of meliponiculture in Southeast Asia is mainly focused on pollination utilization and honey and propolis production. This chapter shows that small-scale beekeeping of stingless bees, which is suitable for the flowering pattern in the tropics, is one of the best potential alternative opportunities. The cost-effectiveness analysis based on production yield, investment cost, and profit-return rate is reviewed. Finally, a sustainable utilization of stingless bees is considered to be an enhancer of pollination services both in an agricultural crop and natural ecosystem.

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