Available online at www.scholarsresearchlibrary.com Scholars Research Library Annals of Biological Research, 2013, 4 (11):93-103 (http://scholarsresearchlibrary.com/archive.html) ISSN 0976-1233 CODEN (USA): ABRNBW 93 Scholars Research Library Geometric morphometrics reveals morphological differentiation within four African stingless bee species Rofela Combey 1,2 , Juliana Stephanie Galaschi Teixeira 3 , Vanessa Bonatti 4 , Peter Kwapong 2 and Tiago Mauricio Francoy 1* 1 Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH) – Universidade de São Paulo. São Paulo, SP, Brazil. CEP 03828-000 2 Department of Entomology and Wildlife (DEW), School of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Coast – Cape Coast, Ghana 3 Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP) – Universidade de São Paulo. Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil 4 Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirao Preto (FMRP) – Universidade de Sao Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil _______________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Geometric morphometric techniques were used to assess possible ecotypes within four species of African stingless bees from three different ecological zones in Ghana. Canonical Variate Analyses, Discriminant Analyses, Principal Component Analyses among other techniques evaluated shape variations of eight homologous landmarks on right forewings and effectively discriminated 16 possible ecotypes among 39 populations of stingless bees. It is therefore recommended to stakeholders in meliponiculture to consider the results of this study when exploring movement of colonies from one ecological zone to another. Key words: Genetics, wings, Meliponula, Dactylurina, Hypotrigona, Liotrigona, Axestotrigona, ecozones, Ghana ecotypes _______________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Several studies have revealed strong relationship between an organism’s morphological traits and its ecological requirements (1-5). According to Baltanás (6), ‘the amount of morphospace of an organism is reported to be a good indicator of its ecological diversity (7), evolutionary radiation (8), morphological convergence in distinct communities (9) or selective extinctions (10). The African stingless bees, like most of its sister groups on other continents are known to play key roles by providing essential ecosystem services such as pollination of both natural vegetation and commercial crops. They provide hive products which are nutritious and medicinal (11-15) and are also of great commercial interest for local people (16). The environments that serve as refugia for bees can lead to speciation among many bee taxa; and