MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA VARIABILITY IN SOUTH-AFRICAN HONEYBEES (APIS-MELLIFERA L)

The mtDNA size variability of honeybees (Apis mellifera) in a sample o f 102 colonies covering the area south of the 27th parallel of latitud e in Africa was analyzed using PCR. A region between the CO I and CO I I genes revealed four different size variants one of which being a nov el mitotype for honeybees not fitting the previously published repeat pattern in the region (a fragment P(o) with 69 bp and varying number o f fragment Q of 196 bp length). This region, which has been shown to b e useful for the biogeographic classification of Apis mellifera subspe cies, only partially corresponded to the known distribution of African subspecies of honeybees based on morphometrical and physiological dat a. The P(o)QQ-type was the most common with an overall frequency of 0. 76. The region which has been addressed as the hybrid zone between A m capensis and A m scutellata showed no mitotype variability and was mo nomorphic for the P(o)QQ type. A considerable length polymorphism was found north and east of this region with a frequency of 0.57 for P(o)Q Q type and 0.36 for the P(o)Q type. Less common were the P(o)QQQ type (0.02) and a type not fitting the known P and Q repeat system (0.02). Digestion of the region with the Dral restriction enzyme revealed prev iously undetected mtDNA variability in Apis mellifera populations.