Abstract
Feral and domesticated honey bees were collected across the island state of Tasmania, Australia, and typed for malate dehydrogenase and a mitochondrial DNA polymorphism. They were also compared morphometrically with reference specimens of Apis mellifera ligustica and A. m. mellifera from Europe. These measures were correlated with temperature and elevation. In warmer coastal regions, the two subspecies readily hybridize and most samples showed evidence of considerable hybridization. In cooler mountain regions, there is much less hybridization, with the A. m. mellifera subspecies characteristics strongly predominating. There is no evidence for cyto-nuclear incompatibilities between these subspecies or for clines caused by direct selection. We hypothesize that A. m. ligustica and F1 hybrids have lower fitness than A. m. mellifera in cooler regions, and that there may be assortative mating in cooler regions only. The significance of these results for the understanding of honey bee hybrid zones in Europe is discussed.
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Oldroyd, B., Cornuet, JM., Rowe, D. et al. Racial admixture of Apis mellifera in Tasmania, Australia: similarities and differences with natural hybrid zones in Europe. Heredity 74, 315–325 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1995.46
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1995.46
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