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Honey Bees

Honey bees (or honeybees) are a subset of bees. They primarily distinguish themselves by the production and storage of honey and the construction of perennial, colonial nests out of wax. Currently, there are only seven recognized species of honey bees with a total of 44 subspecies, though historically, anywhere from six to eleven species have been recognized.

Honey bees represent only a small fraction of the approximately 20,000 known species of bees.

Some other types of related bees produce and store honey, but only members of the genus Apis are true honey bees.

Honey bees as a group appear to have their center of origin in South and South East Asia (including the Philippines), as all but one (i.e. Apis mellifera), of the extant species are native to that region. Notably the most plesiomorphic living species (Apis florea and Apis andreniformis) has the center of origin there.[2] The age of Apis melifera is estimated at only 1 million years.