GENETIC DIVERSITY AND DEMOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF DWARF HONEYBEE Apis florea FABRICIUS, 1787 POPULATIONS IN THAILAND

The dwarf honeybee, Apis florea Fabricius, 1787, is native to Southeast Asia, with its primary habitats in Thailand, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Laos. This species plays a crucial role in pollinating a wide variety of plants and economically important crops. In this study, we examined the genetic diversity and demographic history of A. florea in Thailand using partial sequences of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene. The analysis was conducted using samples from 59 A. florea colonies across Thailand, combined with 13 COI sequences of A. florea from various countries obtained from GenBank. Overall, low nucleotide diversity (0.00321) coupled with high haplotype diversity (0.858) were observed within the Thai populations. The low genetic variation in A. florea suggests that this species occupies a wide range of environments and maintains temporally continuous gene flow, possibly due to its reproductive season. Median-joining network analysis revealed a star-like shape, indicating recent population expansion. This finding was further supported by a unimodal mismatch distribution and significantly negative results for Tajima’s D and Fu’s Fs tests. Demographic history analyses suggested that A. florea may have experienced a population expansion approximately 55,000-243,000 years ago.