A geometric morphometric method and web application for identifying honey bee species (Apis spp.) using only forewings

The genus Apis, the honey bee, is represented by nine species and contains three subgenera: Megapis, Micrapis, Apis. Apis within a subgenus can be difficult to distinguish from one another, emphasizing need for versatile diagnostic tool that used identify efficiently accurately. We photographed 8756 wings members of all species. were imaged samples housed at Institute Bee Research in Oberursel, Germany. geometric morphometric techniques with wing vein intersection coordinates develop computer-based method correctly identified 99.4% tested (A. nigrocincta was lowest 94.6%). also developed web application using an image single uploaded user http://wing-app-client.s3-website.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/ . Our data are useful field studies ecology conservation or regulatory activities.