Forewing deformations in turkish honey bee populations

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) have two pairs of membraneous wings that show a general pattern of vein formation almost identical in all individual bees. The wing vein formation as well as the shapes of cells enclosed by veins has been used as morphometric character for honey bee taxonomic studies. However, in addition to this general vein structure, extra-vein formations, vein connections or a specific loss of piece in the existing veins can be seen for unknown reasons, in some individuals. In this study, our aim is to investigate the irregular vein anomalies in forewings of honey bee populations in different regions of Turkey. A total of 6681 honey bee samples from 23 provinces in Turkey were used in the study. In order to visualize the anomalies, structural differences in the veins on the left forewing of individual worker bees were photographed. Different types of formations on the wing veins were observed in some honey bee samples; as formations of new veins, junctions or missing veins. A total of 13 different vein formations were identified. The two most common formations were on the outer edge of the marginal cell and the posterior quarter of the outer surface of the 2rs-m cross vein (previously described as adventitious distal abscissa, “aRs2”) respectively. The vein formation 1 located at the posterior quarter of the outer surface of the 2rs-m cross vein has the highest proportion in the honey bee populations of Black Sea region. The most common adventitious vein (formation 2) has the highest proportion in the honey bee populations of Aegean region. Other deformations on the wing venations were found to occur in low percentages.