HERITABILITY OF STING CHARACTERS IN AFRICANIZED HONEYBEES

A. MELO(1), O. MALASPINA(1), J. A. F. DINIZ-FILHO(2)

1 Department of Biology/CEIS/CEVAP, Institute of Biosciences of Rio Claro, UNESP, state of São Paulo, Brazil, 2 Department of General Biology, Institute of Biological Sciences, UFG, Goiânia, State of Goiás, Brazil.

ABSTRACT: In this paper we proposed to estimate the heritability of seven morphological characters that compose the sting apparatus of the Africanized honeybee workers. An experimental design to estimate genetic parameters was based on the method developed by Oldroyd and Moran(9). This method was modified to eliminate within-colony environmental effects associated with the additive genetic variance. The estimated h2 values ranged from 0.17 ± 0.11 (maximum width of bulb of sting stylet and height of the valve of right lancet) to 0.74 ± 0.30 (length of the lancet).

KEY WORDS: Apis mellifera; honeybees; heritability; sting.

CORRESPONDENCE TO:

O. MALASPINA - Departamento de Biologia, Instituto de Biociências, Caixa Postal 199, CEP 13.506-900, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brasil.