Hybridization between European and Africanized honeybees in tropical Yucatan, Mexico. II. Morphometric, allozymic and mitochondrial DNA variability in feral colonies

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a long-term study on the genetic status of fetal Yucatecan honey bees combining analyses of morphological, allozyme and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) characters. The results showed that feral Yucatecan colonies had varying degrees of association between European/African morphology, allozymes and haplotypes. Frequencies of European markers varied between years, but markers (polymorphisms) of European origin were, present in the Yucatecan feral population in frequencies that indicate a process of European/African hybridization. These data suggest that population size, environmental conditions and characteristics of the established feral population in Yucatan have provided quantitative and qualitative opportunities for European gene introgression in the feral population, and thus better explain the present genetic composition of feral Africanized honeybees in southeast Mexico.