Insights into the Maternal Ancestry of Côte d’Ivoire Honeybees Using the Intergenic Region COI-COII

Honeybee populations in Côte d’Ivoire have been previously identified as belonging to one subspecies, Apis mellifera scutellata, but other studies have since reported a mixed population consisting of A. m. adansonii and A. m. jemenitica. The population structure and the geographic distribution of honeybees in Côte d’Ivoire remain unclear. This study aimed to profile the population structure of honeybees and their biogeography in Côte d’Ivoire. A total of 33 honeybee colonies were sampled from 15 localities to investigate the maternal ancestry of indigenous honeybee populations using the DraI COI-COII mtDNA test. The results revealed that the honeybee population in Côte d’Ivoire is composed of African haplotypes, all belonging to the AI sublineage. Haplotypes A1 and A4 were recorded with five new sequence variants, including three types of haplotype A1 and two types of haplotype A4. The A1e variant was the most frequent in the A. m. adansonii distributional area. The distribution of the haplotype variants was correlated with the climate pattern in Côte d’Ivoire. This is the first study in Côte d’Ivoire that gives insights into the biogeography and mitotype structure of the local honeybee populations.