Abstract: The honeybee is a group of eusocial insects with high economical and ecological value. The Honeybee Genome Project has provided a molecular basis for further researches on honeybee biological characteristics, molecular mechanism and evolution of social behavior, and thereby equipped the honeybee to be a model organism from an economic insect. We introduced the advantages of the honeybee as a model organism and its model value in some hot research fields based on its biological characteristics, such as learning and memory, labor division, caste differentiation, and immunity, etc. After summarizing the current status and prospecting the future development of biological research on honeybee at home and abroad, we appealed for interdisciplinary research on honeybees at home.

Key words: Honeybee, economic insect, model organism, social behavior, interdisciplinary research