Apis cerana, the eastern honey bee, Asiatic honey bee or Asian honey bee, is a species of honey bee native to South, Southeast and East Asia. This species is the sister species of Apis koschevnikovi and both are in the same subgenus as the western (European) honey bee, Apis mellifera.
Apis cerana is known to be a very docile, gentle, and even somewhat timid, but there can be large differences in their defensiveness depending on season and region. Apis cerana colonies tend to swarm and abscond (abandon a hive location) more frequently than do Apis mellifera colonies.
