Workers measure about 10–13 millimetres, with southern populations generally smaller than northern ones. At first glance it resembles the western honey bee, but it is daintier.
It lives in South, Southeast and East Asia – from India through China to Japan, and south to Indonesia. In China it is concentrated in the centre and south of the country.
Like the western honey bee it nests in cavities and builds several parallel combs, though it prefers a smaller space. Colonies are also smaller, typically a few thousand to around twenty thousand bees. It abandons its nest more readily: in warm regions a whole colony may move house several times a year.
It has a remarkable defence against hornets: hundreds of workers engulf the intruder in a ball and warm it with their flight muscles until the hornet dies, while the bees survive. It is also the original host of the varroa mite (Varroa destructor) and lives with it in balance, because the mite barely reproduces in worker brood and the bees remove infested cells.
It has been kept in Asia for centuries, in log hives as well as frame hives. It yields less honey than the western honey bee but makes good use of scattered nectar sources and copes better with local diseases and pests. Its honey is sold as a speciality in China, India, Nepal and Japan.