A comparative research on the eye developing process of Apis cerana cerana was carried out, based on the techniques of anatomy，immunohistochemistry and in situ cell death detect, and the characteristics of the proliferation and programmed cell death during compound eye growing process. The results are as follows: The adult compound eyes are generated from a group of epithelial cells lying within the larval head capsule. Proliferation of these cells begins the feeding larval stage but accelerates at the end of the final larval instar. Proliferation occurs in two zones of mitotic activity; these zones flank a morphogenetic furrow (MF). The furrow and flanking mitotic zones migrate from posterior to anterior across the presumptive compound eye epithelium. Posterior to the furrow, presumptive compound eye cells form clusters and extend axons into the larval optic nerve during pupal fifth day. The number of apoptotic nuclei in two zones of mitotic activity gradually increased. The clear coincidence in time and space of both apoptosis and proliferation.

Apis cerana cerana； compound eye； postembryonic development； apoptosis