The purpose of this experiment was conducted to study the effects on dietary copper level on growth and development, physiological function and antioxidant ability of worker bee larvae, in order to determine the appropriate level of copper in the diet of Apis mellifera ligustica worker bee larvae. A total of 1 440 one-day-old Apis mellifera ligustica worker bee larvae were randomly divided into 6 groups with 10 replicates in each group and 24 larvae in each replicate. The worker bee larvae in the 6 groups were fed diets supplemented with 0 (control), 1.00, 2.00, 3.00, 4.00 and 5.00 μg/g copper until emergence, and the measured copper levels in diets were 2.69, 3.62, 4.63, 5.64, 6.61 and 7.67 μg/g, respectively. Hemolymph biochemical indices, antioxidant enzyme activities and relative expression levels of antioxidant related genes of 4-, 5-and 6-day-old worker bee larvae were measured, and then pupation rate and eclosion rate of worker bee larvae were calculated. The results showed as follows:1) the influences of dietary copper level on pupation rate and eclosion rate of honeybee were significant (P<0.05). The eclosion rate in 3.62 μg/g copper group was the highest, which was significantly higher than that in 5.64, 6.61 and 7.67 μg/g copper groups (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference compared with control group (P>0.05). 2) Dietary copper level had significant effects on hemolymph total protein (TP) and total cholesterol (TCHO) content of 6-day-old worker bee larvae (P<0.05). With the increase of dietary copper level, the hemolymph TP and TCHO contents continued to decline (P<0.05). 3) Dietary copper level had significant effects on the activities of superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) of 4-, 5-and 6-day-old larvae, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) of 6-day-old larvae and ceruloplasmin (CP) of 6-day-old larvae (P<0.05). With the increase of dietary copper level, the activities of Cu/Zn-SOD, GSH-Px and CP of 6-day-old larvae increased firstly and then decreased, and reached the maximum in 3.62, 5.64 and 6.61 μg/g, respectively. 4)Dietary copper level had significant effects on the relative expression levels of catalase (CAT) and Cu/Zn-SOD genes of 5-day-old larvae (P<0.05). With the increase of dietary copper level, the relative expression levels of CAT and Cu/Zn-SOD genes of 5-day-old larvae increased firstly and then decreased, and the highest values of them were all found when copper level was 3.62 μg/g. In conclusion, dietary copper level affects the growth and development, physiological function and antioxidant ability of worker bee larvae. Considering the eclosion rate and the GSH-Px activity of 6-day-old worker bee larvae to make fitting curves, the appropriate dietary copper level for Apis mellifera ligutica worker bee larvae is 4.96 to 5.34 μg/g.