TARSAL INDEX OF HIND LEG AND THE AREA OF HIND LEG FIRST FOOT DIGIT OF THE WORKER BEES (APIS MELLIFERA L.) REARED IN BULGARIA

The objective of the study was to determine the values of the tarsal index of hind leg and the area of hind leg first digit of the worker honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) in Bulgaria in order to determine the taxonomic status of the studied populations. The studies of the morphological features were carried out in 1988-2005 in three geographical regions: Eastern Balkan Mountains, plain region and Strandzha-Sakar Mountains. From each family we took samples of 100 one-day-old bees for morphological tests according to Alpatov (1948), Ruttner et al. (1962), Gromisz (1981). The tarsal index was calculated by the formula: T. Index = a*b/100, and the area of hind leg first foot was calculated by the formula: Area = a*b, where: a is the width of hind leg first foot digit and b is the length of hind leg first foot digit. For the specific morphological studies in the present research we used 1480 bees in which we applied 14000 measurements of the morphological features and over 3000 determinations of the morphological features. The data have been processed in the base of the Apiculture section, Faculty of Agriculture, Thracian University, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria using Excel and Statistica software. 1. The tarsal index of hind leg of the worker bees reared in Bulgaria was 57.11ЎУ0.07 %; 66.80% of the bees had a tarsal index in the range 55.55„i60.00%. 2. The area of hind leg first foot digit of the worker bees reared in Bulgaria was 2.473ЎУ0.004 mm2 in the range of 2.200„i2.888 mm2. The values for the bees reared in the Eastern Balkan Mountains were 2.64 % higher in comparison to the bees reared in the Strandzha-Sakar Mountains and 5.59 % higher in comparison to the bees reared in the plain region. 3. The established average values and the variation limits of the tarsal index of hind leg and the area of hind leg first digit allowed to develop a standard for bees in the studied populations. 4. The bees in the studied regions showed a greatest similarity to the bees of Apis mellifera carnica breed and its subpopulation Apis mellifera macedonica for the features: tarsal index, and area of hind leg first foot digit and can be defined as their representatives.