Cuban honey bees: significant differentiation from European honey bees in incomplete isolation

García, Carlos Ariel Yadró; Luis, Anais Rodríguez; Piñeiro, Adolfo Pérez; Morfi, Alejandro Pérez; Invernizzi, Ciro; Tomasco, Ivanna H.

doi:10.1080/00218839.2020.1841460

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…This is significant and suggests that Africanization is not, or is only minimally present in the bees from our study. García et al [ 11 ], using cytochrome b sequence analysis, suggested a common ancestry between current Cuban and European bee populations. Several studies indicate consistency between the results of morphometric and genetic methods [ 26 , 27 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, we included fifty images of the left anterior wing from each subspecies ( A. m. carnica , A. m. caucasia , A. m. ligustica , A. m. mellifera , A. m. intermissa , A. m. iberiensis ) with previous evidence of their presence in Cuba [ 10 , 11 ]. A. m. scutellata was included to identify the possible presence of Africanization in the population under study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the 60-year ban on the introduction of new bees in Cuba, a recent article demonstrates that 20% of the haplotypes correspond to African origin. However, the study used only 34 samples [ 11 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently, there are locally adapted populations in Cuba, with a mosaic of the distinctive morphological characters against the originally introduced subspecies [ 10 , 11 ]. The National Bee Research Institute runs the queen selection program in Cuba.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Wing Shape to Identify Populations of Apis mellifera in Camagüey, Cuba

Moposita

Ferrán

Guamán-Rivera

et al. 2023

Insects

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A total of 45 Apis mellifera colonies were sampled from nine centers for rearing queens in the Camagüey province, Cuba. Wing geometric morphometric analysis was used to determine the ancestry and identify Africanization processes at different altitudes in managed honeybee populations on the island. A total of 350 reference wings were obtained from the pure subspecies: Apis mellifera mellifera, Apis mellifera carnica, Apis mellifera ligustica, Apis mellifera caucasia, Apis mellifera iberiensis, Apis mellifera intermissa, and Apis mellifera scutellata for the study. Our results showed that altitude influences wing shape; and that 96.0% (432) of the individuals were classified as Cuban hybrids, with a tendency to the formation of a new morphotype. In addition, a great similarity was found with the subspecies Apis mellifera mellifera, and it was confirmed that there is no Africanization due to the low presence of 0.44% (2) of this morphotype in the population under study. The greatest Mahalanobis distances were obtained for the comparisons between the center rearing of queens in the Camagüey province with the subspecies A. m. scutellata (D2 = 5.18); A. m. caucasia (D2 = 6.08); A. m. ligustica (D2 = 6.27); and A. m. carnica (D2 = 6.62). The well-defined pattern of wing shape produced by honeybee populations in Camagüey’s centers for queen rearing suggests a Cuban hybrid. Moreover, it is essential to note that the populations of bees under investigation lack Africanized morphotypes, indicating that Camagüey bees have not interacted with the African lineage.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Wing Shape to Identify Populations of Apis mellifera in Camagüey, Cuba

Moposita

Ferrán

Guamán-Rivera

et al. 2023

Insects

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Current status of the small hive beetle Aethina tumida in Latin America

et al. 2023

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Recapping and mite removal behaviour in Cuba: home to the world’s largest population of Varroa-resistant European honeybees

Luis¹,

Grindrod

Webb

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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The Varroa destructor ectoparasitic mite has spread globally and in conjunction with Deformed Wing Virus has killed millions of honeybee ( Apis mellifera ) colonies. This has forced Northern hemisphere beekeepers into using miticides to avoid mass colony losses. However, in many Southern hemisphere countries widespread treatment did not occur since miticides were prohibitively expensive, or a centralised choice was made not to treat, both allowing natural selection to act. The Varroa mite initially caused high losses before mite-resistance appeared in the honeybee populations. Initially, mite-resistance was only associated with African and Africanised honeybees. Although recently, several isolated mite-resistant European honeybee populations have appeared. Here we studied the mite-resistance in Cuba and found high rates of recapping of infested worker cells (77%), high removal of mites (80%) and corresponding low mite fertility ( r = 0.77). These are all traits found in all naturally evolved Varroa-resistant populations. We can confirm Cuba has the world’s largest European mite-resistant population with 220,000 colonies that have been treatment-free for over two decades and illustrating the power of natural selection. Cuban honeybees are also highly productive, 40–70 kg of honey produced annually, and are mild mannered. Cuba is an excellent example of what is possible when honeybees are allowed to adapt naturally to Varroa with minimal human interference.

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Cuban honey bees: significant differentiation from European honey bees in incomplete isolation

Cited by 3 publications

References 40 publications

Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Wing Shape to Identify Populations of Apis mellifera in Camagüey, Cuba

Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Wing Shape to Identify Populations of Apis mellifera in Camagüey, Cuba

Current status of the small hive beetle Aethina tumida in Latin America

Recapping and mite removal behaviour in Cuba: home to the world’s largest population of Varroa-resistant European honeybees

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