I

ANNO 3 Numero 2
Emanuele Carpana, Lara Morosin, Alessandra Ferro, Raffaele Dall'Olio

Morphometrical and genetic characterisation of a honeybee population from an area in Veneto: preliminary data

CRA - Istituto Nazionale di Apicoltura , Bologna, Italy

Corresponding author: ecarpana@inapicoltura.org


Apis mellifera ligustica is the main Italian honeybee race. However, previous research showed the existence of hybridization zones with Apis mellifera mellifera or Apis mellifera carnica, respectively in the western and eastern Alpine area.

T he aim of the present study was to investigate the composition of a honeybee population from Veneto and measure its intergradation with Apis mellifera carnica samples coming from Slovenia and Austria. One hundred and twelve honeybee samples were analysed overall with morphometric and genetic techniques.

The results of the present study clearly indicate that Veneto samples are in an intermediate position between Apis mellifera ligustica and Apis mellifera carnica, so that an intergradation effect can be claimed.