Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School
 of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the
 Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

 GENOMIC DNA RESTRICTION FRAGMENT LENGTH POLYMORPHISMS
 AT A HIGHLY POLYMORPHIC LOCUS
 DISTINGUISH OLD AND NEW WORLD SUBSPECIES
 OF THE HONEY BEE, Apis mellifera L.

 By

 Margaret Anne McMichael

 April 1994

Chairperson: H. G. Hall
Major Department: Entomology and Nematology


 Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) of African and European ancestry were

distinguished by analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs)

defined by two enzymes at a highly polymorphic locus corresponding to

genomic probe pB178. Thirty-six Mspl restriction fragment patterns, or

variants, and thirty-three Ddel variants were identified. Sixty-five pairwise

combinations of the Mspl and Ddel variants, referred to as alleles, were found

among the individual drones tested. Variants and alleles were discontinuously

distributed in USA and South African drones: only one Ddel variant and no

Mspl variant (hence no allele) were common to these two sample populations.

The diversity in the variants and alleles found in the South African drones was