Comparison of two morphometric methods for discriminating honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) populations in Turkey

In this study, we compared 2 different methodologies (traditional morphometrics, TM, and geometric morphometrics, GM) in order to determine their ability to discriminate the honey bee populations distributed throughout Turkey. In TM, 16 morphometric characters were measured from the forewings of different honey bee populations from Turkey. A total of 20 landmarks were utilized for the GM analysis. Multivariate statistical analysis of data obtained from the 2 methodologies showed that GM was more successful (81.5%) than TM (70.4%). While the GM method is much simpler and easier compared to the standard morphometric measurement of size characters and angles of wing venations, the discrimination ability of GM on the honey bee populations was greater than that of TM. In addition, TM is restricted to distance characters and rotation of distances; GM not only includes these measurements indirectly, but also allows for wing shape analysis using the landmark approach.