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We measured the repellent effects of plant resins against the weaver ants, Oecophylla smaragdina. The resins were the sticky bands of the dwarf honeybees, Apis florea and A. andreniformis, propolis of the Western honeybee, A. mellifera and the nest entrance tubes of the stingless bees, Tetrigona apicalis, Lepidotrigona terminata, and Tetragonula collina. A bioassay was developed for testing the effects of these resins in field experiments by placing them along natural foraging pathways of ants' nests. A repellency index was generated to quantify this bioactivity. The sticky bands of dwarf honeybees and propolis of A. mellifera were significantly more repellent against O. smaragdina than were the entrance tube resins of the stingless bees. Nonetheless, the diverse, viscid and adhesive resins employed by these bees constitute a generally effective first-line of defense against depredations of a formidable adversary, the weaver ants.

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Genetic diversity and population differentiation of the giant honey bee (Apis dorsata) in Thailand were examined. Six PCR-RFLP mitotypes were generated from digestion of the COI-COII, Cytb-tRNA(ser), ATPase6-8, and lrRNA genes with Dra I and Hin fI. Low genetic diversity (h=0.074, pi=0.032%) and a lack of genetic population differentiation between A. dorsata originating from geographically different regions were observed from mtDNA polymorphisms (P > 0.05). In contrast, microsatellite (A14, A24, and A88) polymorphisms revealed a relatively high level of genetic diversity in A. dorsata (H (o)=0.68-0.74, average number of alleles per locus=6.0-9.0). Both A24 and A88 indicated significant population differentiation between bees from the north-to-central region (north, northeast, and central regions), peninsular Thailand, and Samui Island.