This bibliography was compiled from over 3,550 references covering the period 1787 to early 2010. References were obtained through iterative searches into older sources and continued until a cul-de-sac was reached. Particular effort was expended in obtaining translations of works in Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese and Russian. Most of the publications cited here have not been captured by any of the enormous websites or search engines. This bibliography is the most complete of its kind available. Bibliographic entries are presented with significant keywords relating to the specific biological trait, for example, swarming, chromosomes, wax and so on as well by scientific names and countries of origin.

The complex social structure and male-biased sex ratio of honeybee mating systems are analysed, followed by detailed treatments of panmictic drone congregation areas and species-specific daily mating flight periods. This is followed by an account of queen polyandry and drone monogamy and competition. Mating on the wing is a finely tuned technical tour de force involving initial docking, establishing the internal connection of drone and queen, the deposition and transfer of sperm and, finally, decoupling of the pair and deposition of a mating sign. Subsequent to mating, the problems of the ultimate storage and utilisation of sperm are discussed. Finally, the matter of reproductive isolation is considered.

Foraging preferences in relation to rewards (nectar and pollen) from flowers are considered in terms of floral constancy although there are species-specific variations in foraging activity. Considerations of foraging flight include speed, thermoregulation, flight patterns and intensity. These are in turn related to weather factors that greatly affect the commencement and cessation of foraging, diurnal trends in foraging, bee-size and nocturnal foraging. Matters of thresholds and timing, factor compensating mechanisms, and sequence and timing of bee visits are recorded. In a broader context resource partitioning, competition for floral resources and the influence of honeybees on other bee species are reviewed. Finally, organoleptic aspects in relation to flavour, taste and the colours of flowers and biochemical characters of host plants are discussed.

Virgin queens of A. florea were produced in 10 queenless colonies yielding 106 queens with an average of 10.6 ± 2.99 queen cells per colony and a success rate of 65.23 ± 0.14% virgin queens. Spermatozoa were collected directly from the seminal vesicles. Thirty queens were inseminated, each with a pool of about 3.12 × 10⁶ spermatozoa derived from 8 drones. Six queens began to lay eggs 5 to 14 days after instrumental insemination. The mean number of spermatozoa reaching the spermatheca of inseminated queens was 0.74 × 10⁶ ± 0.45 (=24% of the drone’s spermatozoa) and the percentage of worker offspring was 100% in 5 queens and 83% in one queen. This method opens the possibility for new studies in genetics and selective breeding.

This account begins with a detailed discussion of historical confusion concerning terminology, and fresh, precise definitions for absconding, migration and swarming are given. Proximate causes for absconding include resource depletion of nectar and pollen and their measurable effects on brood. Predation pressure and microenvironmental effects are discussed as are peculiarities in dance communication in absconding and migration. Finally, comparisons of reproductive swarming and post-absconding behaviour of the species are presented. The relationship between the preparation period for prepared absconding or migration and distance eventually flown is documented as are different foraging strategies for absconding and stationary honeybee colonies. The energetics of absconding/migration in tropical honeybees are considered.

Understanding the reproductive potential (“quality”) of queens bees can provide valuable insights into factors that influence colony phenotype. We assayed queens from various commercial sources for various measures of potential queen quality, including their physical characters (such as their degree of parasitism), insemination number (stored sperm counts), and effective paternity frequency (number of drone fathers among their offspring). We found significant variation in the physical, insemination, and mating quality of commercially produced queens, and we detected significant correlations within and among these various measures. Overall, the queens were sufficiently inseminated (3.99 ± 1.504 million sperm) and mated with an appropriate number of drones (effective paternity frequency: 16.0 ± 9.48). Importantly, very few of the queens were parasitized by tracheal mites and none were found with either Nosema species. These findings suggest possible mechanisms for assessing the potential fitness of honey bee queens without the need for destructive sampling.

In honeybee colonies, reproduction is monopolized by the queen while her daughter workers are facultatively sterile. Caste determination is a consequence of environmental conditions during development, during which female larvae may become either queens or workers depending on their larval diet. This bipotency introduces significant variation in the reproductive potential of queen bees, with queens raised from young worker larvae exhibiting high reproductive potential and queens raised from older worker larvae exhibiting lower reproductive potential. We verify that low-quality queens are indeed produced from older worker larvae, as measured morphometrically (e.g., body size) and by stored sperm counts. We also show, for the first time, that low-quality queens mate with significantly fewer males, which significantly influences the resultant intracolony genetic diversity of the worker force of their future colonies. These results demonstrate a reproductive continuum of honeybee queens and provide insights into the reproductive constraints of social insects.

Genetic considerations concern the roles and effects of genetics in Asian honeybees. Emphasis is placed on recent developments with regard to mating frequency, the effects of multiple mating which could act directly on the queen as well as on the colony and the probability of being affected by homozygosity are considered. The effects of dominant-recessive inheritance on variation and the number of potential permutations within workers and drones are examined. The major elements of colony behaviour including the dance language, aggregations of honeybees as well as migration are reviewed. One of the most elusive areas covered is the coefficient of genetic variation with respect to morphological characters.

Adult drone honey bees from 4 Australian breeding lines were reared under similar conditions and examined for semen and sperm production when 14, 21 and 35 days old, during spring, summer and autumn. Almost half (40.5%) of all drones examined did not release any semen when manually everted. For those that released semen, the average volume released per drone was 1.09 μL (range 0.72 (±0.04)−1.12 (±0.04) μL) and the average number of sperms in the semen per drone was 3.63 × 10⁶ (range 1.88 (±0.14)−4.11 (±0.17) × 10⁶). The release of semen was dependent on breeding line and age (P < 0.05), but not on the rearing season. The volume of semen released per drone was dependent on season, age, and breeding line (P < 0.05), while the concentration of sperm in the semen was dependent on season and breeding line (P < 0.05). Hence our data indicate that genetics underpins the maturation of drone honey bees as well as the volume of semen they release and the concentration of sperm in that semen.

Asia is home to most species of honeybee mites in the world. Two mesostigmatid families, Varroidae and Laelapidae, are serious honeybee pests that threaten current global apiculture. Once recognised as a single species, Varroa jacobsoni (Varroidae) was found to be a species complex of at least two species. We now know that a distinct species, V. destructor, which parasitises Apis cerana in mainland Asia, is the culprit that is also responsible for the destruction of European honeybee colonies, A. mellifera, worldwide. Likewise, the parasitic species of the family Laelapidae, Tropilaelaps clareae, was once thought to be genetically homogenous across its distribution in Asia. Population genetic studies along with reproductive isolation evidences reveal substantial variations in T. clareae, which suggest that different mites from various locations in Asia may differ in their levels of pathogenicity to both their native hosts and A. mellifera. Life histories of Varroa and Tropilaelaps are briefly addressed in the chapter. Future works on Asian honeybee mites focusing on population-level diversity may assist in the discovery of new genetic-types of mites and their corresponding levels of pathogenicity on their native host populations and on A. mellifera.