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Science, Marine and Environment

MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF IN-
VITRO QUEENS AND WORKERS OF Heterotrigona itama (APIDAE;
HYMENOPTERA; MELIPONINI

Nur Azmina Adnan , Wahizatul Afzan Azmi
1
1*
1
Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030
Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia.
*Corresponding author: wahizatul@umt.edu.my

Stingless bee (Hymnoptera; Apidae; Meliponini) is a eusocial insect that lived together
in one colony with a highly organized system. Currently, Heterotrigona itama is one of
STUDENT RESEARCH DAY 2021 of H. itama. Five samples of each in-vitro queens and workers were provided by the STUDENT RESEARCH DAY 2021
the most domesticated stingless bees in Malaysia. This study describes the
morphological characteristics and morphometric analysis of in-vitro queens and workers

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postgraduate student of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). The samples were
spread, pinned and dried according to the standard laboratory entomological
methodology. Ten morphological characters were observed and measured such as Body
Length (BL), Head Length (HL), Head Width (HW), Forewing Length (FWL), Forewing
Width (FWW), Hindwing Length (HWL), Hindwing Width (HWW), Abdomen Length (AL),
Abdomen Width (AW) and Tibia Width (TW). Results showed that the body length and
abdomen of in-vitro queens of H. itama were significantly greater than wild workers.
Interestingly, the wing and forelegs of H. itama workers were significantly lengthier
compared to the in-vitro queens. It is hoped that the findings of this study provide
information on the external morphological characteristic of the in-vitro queens before the
pre-release assessment in the field will be commenced.

Keyword: Heterotrigona itama. In-vitro queen, morphological characteristic,
morphometrics, stingless bee.

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