In Asia, apiculture using domestic honeybees (Apis cerana, etc.) has been recommended especially since the outbreak of a parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, in the introduced honeybee, Apis mellifera L. (Am), colonies. However, our knowledge of chemical ecology on the domestic honeybees in Asia is scarce to help develop a modernized bee keeping. Un usual attraction of the Japanese honeybee, Apis cerana japonica , to flowers of an oriental orchid, Cymbidium floribundum Lindl., prompted us to examine the pheromone chemistry in Acj and also other honeybee species in Asia. We report here the pheromone gland chemistry of several domestic honeybee species in Asia, Apis cerana japonica (Acj), A. c. cerana (Acc), A. c. indica (Aci), A. c. himalaya (Ach), A. dorsata (Ad), A. laboriosa (Al) and A. andreniformis (Aa). Worker honeybees were collected in Korea (Acc), Nepal (Ach, Ad and Al), Thailand (Aci), Taiwan (Acc), Vietnam (Acc, Ad and Aa) and Japan (Acj and Am). Pheromonal glands (Nasonov, sting and mandibular glands) were excised or pulled out and extracted with ether. Chemical analyses of these extracts were done by GC and GC-MS. Methylation by diazomethane was applied to the mandibular glands extracts before analysis. In the case of extracts from Acj, bioassay was also carried out using the polyethylene bag method to test the biological activity of the extracts against Acj workers.