Abstract: As eusocial insect, Apis mellifera is one of the ideal models for studying human cognitive behavior. In a normal colony, workers show agedependent behavioral transition. Workers are mainly engaged in the work in nest in three weeks after emergence, and then they start to work outside the colony, especially to collect pollen and nectar. The behavioral transition of workers from working in nest to working outside is related to many factors. In this article, we reviewed the progress in the research on the behavioral transition of honeybees resulted from colony environment, physiology and expression change of genes including mRNAs and microRNAs, hoping to provide references for further exploring the factors and mechanisms regulating the behavioral transition of honeybees.

Key words: Honeybee, nurse, forager, behavioral transition, regulating factors