Genetic relationships between two honey bees (Apis mellifera linnaeus, 1758 and Apis cerana fabricius, 1753) and varroa mites in Thailand

To determine the matrilineal origin of Thai Apis mellifera, mtDNA haplotypes of 476 colonies in North, Central, Northeast and South Thailand were determined by RFLPs and DNA sequencing. Three haplotype groups were found: ThaiA1 (22%) matched A. m. ligustica, ThaiA2 (60%) matched A. m. carnica (both C lineage), ThaiB (18%) matched O lineage; O lineage was rare in North and Central populations. Two mtDNA lineages of A. cerana occur in Thailand: Mainland Asia and Sundaland, meeting at Kra ecotone. Investigation of population structure of 184 samples from 6 populations (North, Central, Northeast, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumporn, Peninsular), using AFLPs, TE-AFLPs and AMOVA revealed little differentiation among populations. Three mtDNA lineages of Varrroa destructor were found on A. mellifera colonies: Korea (n=38), Japan (n=3) and Vietnam (n=1); the Vietnam haplotype was found on A. cerana in mountainous regions north of 18 °N latitude. V. jacobsoni occurred only in A. cerana colonies: Malaysia haplotype on Sundaland A. cerana lineage, NorthThai haplotype on Mainland Asia lineage