Nuclear DNA RFLPs betweenAfrican and European honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) were sought by amplifying short (1-2 kbp) and long (> 5 kbp) anonymous regions of DNA and digesting the respective PCR products with a collection of restriction enzymes. Three short and three long regions were each screened with 26-31 enzymes. From a total of 163 locus enzyme combinations (LECs), seven revealed informative polymorphisms. One of these LECs came from one of the three short regions (S-3 with AluI), producing a total of seven alleles, five of which were African-specific. The search for useful RFLPs was far more effective within the long regions. The other six inforrmative LECs came from the three long regions (L-1 with AluI, L-2 with AvaI and HaeIII, and L-5 with HaeIII, DdeI, and SpeI), producing a total of 43 alleles, of which 18 were African-specific, 13 were European-specific, and two were predominantly found in the European samples. Among the European alleles, two were predominantly found in west European honey bee subspecies. Strong associations between alleles generated by pairs of enzymes at a locus were found.