Jaf. Diniz et al., GENETIC AND WITHIN-COLONY ENVIRONMENTAL COMPONENTS OF VARIATION IN THE HAMULI NUMBER OF AFRICANIZED HONEY-BEES (APIS-MELLIFERA L), Brazilian journal of genetics, 17(3), 1994, pp. 255-258
We analysed the genetic and within-colony components of variation in t
he hamuli number of an Africanized honey bee population, using the met
hodology proposed by Oldroyd and Moran (Aust. J. Biol. Sci. 36:323-332
, 1983), modified to account for within-colony environmental variation
. Estimated heritability was equal to 0.6768 +/- 0.2991, assuming that
queens were inseminated by 17 unrelated drones, and the within-colony
environmental variance component was non significant (F=0.02; P=0.996
). This indicates that heritabilities of hamuli number obtained using
the methodology proposed by Oldroyd and Moran (Aust. J. Biol. Sci. 36:
323-332, 1983) are not seriously affected by within colony environmen
tal effects, at least in this population of Africanized honey bees.