Biometrics Reveals Distinct Population of Dactylurina staudingeri (Gribodo, 1893) (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini) in Cameroon-Central Africa.

Abstract

Dactylurina staudingeri is a widely distributed stingless bee species in West and Central Africa. It provides important pollination services, and its honey is valued for medicinal properties. However, native population diversity is being poorly investigated. In the context of the expansion of meliponiculture, a biometric study was carried out on samples of Dactylurina staudingeri collected in two agro-ecological zones of Cameroon: the agro-ecological zone of the Western Highlands and the Bimodal Rainfall Forest zone. A total of 797 mature worker bees from 49 colonies were collected from the wild. A total of 16 biometric measurements were recorded on each of them using classical biometric methods and data obtained were submitted for one factor analysis of variance. The results obtained showed a significant effect of locality for some measurements, and thus there is a large morphometric variability between bees from the Bimodal Rainfall Forest zone and bees from the Western Highlands. Bees from the Bimodal Rainfall Forest zone have the largest measurements for traits such as abdominal length, head width, body length, antenna length, ocello-dorsal distance, ocello-dorsal ocular distance, tibia length and width, metatarsal length and width. Bees from the Western Highlands had the largest measurements for parameters such as right forewing length and width, head length, hindwing length and width, and femur length. The present study revealed the presence of 3 morphotypes within the Dactylurina staudingeri population using principal component analysis.