ABSTRACT
The morphometric analysis of the dwarf honeybee, Apis florea F. (Order: Hymenoptera; Family: Apidae), in all seven agroclimatic zones of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh was carried out. Twenty-one morphological characters measured for worker bees of A. florea collected from forage sources of 70 selected localities were reduced to 16 characters and subjected to multivariate morphometric analysis (hierarchical cluster analysis and factor analysis) to determine whether distinct populations of A. florea exist in this State. A common floral calendar is prepared for A. florea based on field observations in all sampled localities of honeybees. The present work is the first on the morphometrics and floral calendar of A. florea in Andhra Pradesh.
