The familiar European hive bee, Apis mellifera, has long dominated honey bee research. But in the last 15 years, teams in China, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand began to shift focus to the indigenous Asian honey bees. Benjamin Oldroyd, well known for his work on the genetics and evolution of worker sterility, has teamed with Siriwat Wongsiri, a pioneer of the study of bees in Thailand, to provide a comparative work synthesizing the rapidly expanding Asian honey bee literature. After introducing the species, the authors review evolution and speciation, division of labor, communication, and nest defense. They underscore the pressures colonies face from pathogens, parasites, and predators--including man--and detail the long and amazing history of the honey hunt. This book provides a cornerstone for future investigations on these species, insights into the evolution across species, and a direction for conservation efforts to protect these keystone species of Asia's tropical forests.

1    To Be a Honey Bee  1
2    Introduction to the Species  13
3    Evolution  36
4    Speciation and Biogeography  52
5    Dance Communication and Foraging  65
6    Reproduction, Swarming, and Migration  90
7    Worker Sterility, Kin Selection, and Polyandry  118
8    Nesting Biology and Nest Defense  148
9    Parasites, Pathogens, Predators, and a Plant  780
10    Human Interactions 209
11    Conservation  231
12    Concluding Remarks  249