Abstract
Abstract. In the conducted study the level of manifestation of hygienic behavior of 25 bee colonies was tested from
the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) in Bulgaria. During the testing the method used for killing the brood was with an
entomological pin. Based on the results two types of colonies were determined – hygienic (where 48 h after killing the
brood the percentage of cleaned cells with dead brood was over 95%) and non-hygienic (where 48 h after killing the brood
the percentage of cleaned cells with dead brood was lower than 95%). From each bee colony young non-flying worker
bees were taken and the morphometric measurements of their chitin body parts were made. In the study 18 morphological
traits were tested and 2 indexes were calculated. High degree of reliability (p≤0.001) between hygienic and non-hygienic
bee colonies was determined for 2 morphological traits - Total length of fore wing and Length of proboscis. For the traits
Length of tibia and Width of Іst tarsus of fore leg and Width and Surface of the left wax mirror of IIIrd sternit medium degree
of reliability (p≤0.01) was determined. In 3 other traits - Length of femur of fore leg, Length of IIIrd sternit and Length of IInd
part of the cubital cell of the fore wing low reliability (p≤0.05) was established. The results obtained from the present study
indicate the existence of statistically significant differences between the morphometric characteristics of worker bees from
hygienic and non-hygienic bee colonies. These traits are related to the productivity of worker bees.
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