Abstract
The morphometry of native honeybees from Saudi Arabia was analysed and compared with 7 Apis mellifera subspecies, based on 198 colony samples from 36 locations. Twenty five standard morphological characters were evaluated, and samples were compared with seven reference honeybee subspecies (Apis mellifera carnica, A. m. ligustica, A. m. meda, A. m. syriaca, A. m. lamarckii, A. m. litorea and A. m. jemenitica) obtained from the Oberursel Data Bank (Institut für Bienenkunde, Frankfurt University, Germany). Results confirmed that samples from Saudi Arabia are very similar to samples from the subspecies A. m. jemenitica (Ruttner,
1967
), previously described from Oman, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Samples were well-separated from the other subspecies, but the distinction was less in relation to A. m. litorea. While locally kept bees were well-separated, samples from migratory beekeeping showed broader variation and were less clearly separated, indicating the influence of ingression and hybridization with introduced honeybee subspecies.