Molecular identification of Dwarf Bees Apis florea species discovered on the Golden Triangle area, Red Sea, Egypt

Abstract

Honeybees play a crucial role in plant pollination, agriculture’s biodiversity, and environmental balance. This study was conducted for the first time in "the Golden Triangle Area". The objective was to identify the bee species that inhibited the Red Sea, focusing on the coast. The work was conducted through intensive and extensive visual observation on a 20 km long and 2.5 km wide area. Morphological measurements using a stereomicroscope and molecular identification were conducted using the mitochondrial COI gene. Body, antennal, forewings, hind wings, and hind leg lengths were recorded. The mitochondrial COI gene confirmed the species identification of dwarf bees in the studied area. COI sequencing produced a nucleotide length of 636 bp. and was deposited in GenBank under accession number (OP797664.1). The COI sequence was subjected to BLAST/N at the NCBI and revealed eight species of the genus Apis . On average, colonies were found to be about five per square kilometer. Also, the most preferred plantation for the red dwarf honeybees was sider trees. In conclusion, dwarf honeybees moved to the Triangle Golden Zone, which, if taken into consideration, will enrich the agriculture ecosystem. Also, increasing sider trees will increase the natural colonization of dwarf