Apis mellifera mitochondrial haplotypes
Identification of honey bee subspecies is important for their protection. Conservation of this subspecies is threatened by beekeeping activities and crossbreeding programs. Regional legislative initiatives have been recently developed to promote the conservation of this honey bee genetic resources. Nowadays, different methods for identification are applied. Morphometrical analysis and molecular analysis are useful for this purpose. Molecular analyses based on mitochondrial DNA and nuclear polymorphisms have been also proposed to complement morphometric classifications and eventually as alternative methods. In this study we analyze honey bees from several colonies of Emilia Romagna region (North of Italy), sampled in 2019, 2020 and 2021 to monitor the distribution of Apis mellifera mitochondrial haplotypes.