Country specific hybridization of honey bees from lineage M

BACKGROUND: Honey bees are essential pollinators supporting agricultural production and wild plant diversity. In evolutionary lineage M, some populations are threatened by genetic erosion caused by the widespread introduction of commercially bred queens. To assess this risk, wing images from existing and new datasets were used to assign them to four evolutionary lineages (A, C, M, and O). The new dataset consisted of 29,043 wing images representing 1,342 colony samples from ten countries. RESULTS: Overall, 63.7% of colonies belonged to lineage M, whereas 27.5% were classified as A, 7.9% as C, and 0.8% as O. Lineage M remains prevalent in unprotected populations in Portugal, Spain, and Ireland, as well as in protected populations elsewhere. In contrast, a pronounced decline was observed in unprotected populations in northeastern Poland. CONCLUSIONS: These findings reveal strong regional differences in the persistence of lineage M and underscore the need for coordinated conservation efforts throughout Europe. The data provided in this study should allow for more accurate discrimination between native and introduced phenotypes.

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Publication Details

Journal
GigaScience
Published
2026-09-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giag093
Primary Topic
Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Country specific hybridization of honey bees from lineage M

A. R. Valentine, Grace P. McCormack, Dariusz Gerula, Benjamin Rutschmann et al.
GigaScience
Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
article

Country specific hybridization of honey bees from lineage M

A. R. Valentine, Grace P. McCormack, Dariusz Gerula, Benjamin Rutschmann, Martin Hasselmann, Per Kryger, Adam Tofilski, Teweldemedhn Gebretinsae Hailu, Andrzej Oleksa, Julita Machlowska, Laima Blažytė‐Čereškienė, Lars Kirkerud, Henk Kok
article en

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Honey bees are essential pollinators supporting agricultural production and wild plant diversity. In evolutionary lineage M, some populations are threatened by genetic erosion caused by the widespread introduction of commercially bred queens. To assess this risk, wing images from existing and new datasets were used to assign them to four evolutionary lineages (A, C, M, and O). The new dataset consisted of 29,043 wing images representing 1,342 colony samples from ten countries. RESULTS: Overall, 63.7% of colonies belonged to lineage M, whereas 27.5% were classified as A, 7.9% as C, and 0.8% as O. Lineage M remains prevalent in unprotected populations in Portugal, Spain, and Ireland, as well as in protected populations elsewhere. In contrast, a pronounced decline was observed in unprotected populations in northeastern Poland. CONCLUSIONS: These findings reveal strong regional differences in the persistence of lineage M and underscore the need for coordinated conservation efforts throughout Europe. The data provided in this study should allow for more accurate discrimination between native and introduced phenotypes.

GigaScience
University of Hohenheim (DE), Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz (PL), Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway (IE), Aarhus University (DK), University of Würzburg (DE), University of Agriculture in Krakow (PL), National Horticultural Research Institute (NG), Horticultural Research Institute (US), National Veterinary Research Institute (PL), Discovery Air (Canada) (CA), Nature Research Centre (LT), Agroscope (CH), Federal Office for Agriculture (CH)
Openalex Percentile: Top 11%
Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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