Intraspecific taxonomy of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, delineates ab
out two dozen subspecies or geographic races occurring throughout the
original range in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, Variation in be
havior, morphology, and genetic markers has been reported among the su
bspecies and has been used to assess the racial origins of introduced
populations in the New World and Australia, We examined mitochondrial
DNA variation among endemic honey bee subspecies using the restriction
enzyme Hinfl, Twenty different mtDNA haplotypes were identified and t
heir distribution among and within the subspecies improved resolution
of relationships among some racial groups and provided unambiguous ide
ntification of some taxa.