• Eastern species

These are 3 or 4 species. The reddish Koschevnikov's Bee (Apis koschevnikovi) from Borneo is well distinct; it probably derives from the first colonization of the island by cave-nesting honey bees. Apis cerana, the Eastern honey bee proper, is the traditional honey bee of southern and eastern Asia, kept in hives in a similar fashion to Apis mellifera, though on a much smaller and regionalized scale. It has not been possible yet to resolve its relationship to the Bornean Apis cerana nuluensis and Apis nigrocincta from the Philippines to satisfaction; the most recent hypothesis is that these are indeed distinct species but that A. cerana is still paraphyletic, consisting of several good species.(Arias & Sheppard 2005)

• Western (European, Common) honey bee

Main

Regarding phylogeny, this is the most enigmatic honey bee species. It seems to have diverged from its Eastern relatives only during the Late Miocene. This would fit the hypothesis that the ancestral stock of cave-nesting honey bees was separated into the Western group of E Africa and the Eastern group of tropical Asia by desertification in the Middle East and adjacent regions, which caused declines of foodplants and trees which provided nest sites, eventually causing gene flow to cease. The diversity of subspecies is probably the product of a (largely) Early Pleistocene radiation aided by climate and habitat changes during the last ice age. That the Western honey bee has been intensively managed by humans since many millennia - including hybridization and introductions - has apparently increased the speed of its evolution and confounded the DNA sequence data to a point where little of substance can be said about the exact relationships of many A. mellifera subspecies.(Arias & Sheppard 2005)

There are no honey bees native to the Americas. In 1622, European colonists brought the dark bee (A. m. mellifera) to the Americas, followed later by Italian bees (A. m. ligustica) and others. Many of the crops that depend on honey bees for pollination have also been imported since colonial times. Escaped swarms (known as "wild" bees, but actually feral) spread rapidly as far as the Great Plains, usually preceding the colonists. The Native Americans called the honey bee "the white man's fly". Honey bees did not naturally cross the Rocky Mountains; they were carried by ship to California in the early 1850s.

Main article: Africanized bee

The so-called "killer bee" are highly aggressive hybrids between European stock and the African subspecies A. m. scutellata; they are thus often called "Africanized bees". Originating by accident in Brazil, they have spread to North America and constitutes a pest in some regions. However, these strains do not overwinter well, and so are not often found in the colder, more Northern parts of North America. On the other hand, the original breeding experiment for which the African bees were brought to Brazil in the first place has continued (though not as intended): novel hybrid strains of domestic and re-domesticated Africanized bees combine high resilience to tropical conditions and good yields, and are popular among beekeepers in Brazil.

Main article: Colony Collapse Disorder

Beekeepers in Western countries have been reporting slow declines of stocks for many years, apparently to changes in agricultural practice and perhaps climate change causing more unpredictable weather. In early 2007, abnormally high die-offs (30-70% of hives) of Western honey bee colonies occurred in the US and possibly Québec; such a decline seems unprecedented in recent history. This has been dubbed "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD); it is unclear whether this is simply an accelerated phase of the general decline due to stochastically more adverse conditions in 2006, or a novel phenomenon. Research has hitherto failed to determine what causes it, but the weight of evidence is tentatively leaning towards CCD being a syndrome rather than a disease as it seems to be caused by a combination of various contributing factors rather than a single pathogen or poison. article: Apis mellifera

Apis mellifera, the most commonly domesticated species, was the third insect to have its genome mapped. It seems to have originated in eastern tropical Africa and spread from there to Northern Europe and eastwards into Asia to the Tien Shan range. It is variously called the Western, European or Common honey bee in different parts of the world. There are many subspecies that have adapted to the local geographic and climatic environment, and in addition, hybrid strains such as the Buckfast bee have been bred. Behavior, color and anatomy can be quite different from one subspecies or even strain to another.

Regarding phylogeny, this is the most enigmatic honey bee species. It seems to have diverged from its Eastern relatives only during the Late Miocene. This would fit the hypothesis that the ancestral stock of cave-nesting honey bees was separated into the Western group of E Africa and the Eastern group of tropical Asia by desertification in the Middle East and adjacent regions, which caused declines of foodplants and trees which provided nest sites, eventually causing gene flow to cease. The diversity of subspecies is probably the product of a (largely) Early Pleistocene radiation aided by climate and habitat changes during the last ice age. That the Western honey bee has been intensively managed by humans since many millennia - including hybridization and introductions - has apparently increased the speed of its evolution and confounded the DNA sequence data to a point where little of substance can be said about the exact relationships of many A. mellifera subspecies.(Arias & Sheppard 2005)

There are no honey bees native to the Americas. In 1622, European colonists brought the dark bee (A. m. mellifera) to the Americas, followed later by Italian bees (A. m. ligustica) and others. Many of the crops that depend on honey bees for pollination have also been imported since colonial times. Escaped swarms (known as "wild" bees, but actually feral) spread rapidly as far as the Great Plains, usually preceding the colonists. The Native Americans called the honey bee "the white man's fly". Honey bees did not naturally cross the Rocky Mountains; they were carried by ship to California in the early 1850s.

Main article: Africanized bee

The so-called "killer bee" are highly aggressive hybrids between European stock and the African subspecies A. m. scutellata; they are thus often called "Africanized bees". Originating by accident in Brazil, they have spread to North America and constitutes a pest in some regions. However, these strains do not overwinter well, and so are not often found in the colder, more Northern parts of North America. On the other hand, the original breeding experiment for which the African bees were brought to Brazil in the first place has continued (though not as intended): novel hybrid strains of domestic and re-domesticated Africanized bees combine high resilience to tropical conditions and good yields, and are popular among beekeepers in Brazil.

Main article: Colony Collapse Disorder

Beekeepers in Western countries have been reporting slow declines of stocks for many years, apparently to changes in agricultural practice and perhaps climate change causing more unpredictable weather. In early 2007, abnormally high die-offs (30-70% of hives) of Western honey bee colonies occurred in the US and possibly Québec; such a decline seems unprecedented in recent history. This has been dubbed "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD); it is unclear whether this is simply an accelerated phase of the general decline due to stochastically more adverse conditions in 2006, or a novel phenomenon. Research has hitherto failed to determine what causes it, but the weight of evidence is tentatively leaning towards CCD being a syndrome rather than a disease as it seems to be caused by a combination of various contributing factors rather than a single pathogen or poison. 

There is one recognized species which usually builds single or a few exposed combs on high tree limbs, on cliffs, and sometimes on buildings. They can be very fierce. Periodically robbed of their honey by human "honey hunters", colonies are easily capable of stinging a human being to death when provoked. Their origin as a distinct lineage is only slightly more recent than that of the dwarf honey bees.^{[citation needed]}

• Apis florea and Apis andreniformis are small honey bees of southern and southeastern Asia. They make very small, exposed nests in trees and shrubs. Their stings are often incapable of penetrating human skin, so the hive and swarms can be handled with minimal protection. They occur largely sympatrically though they are very distinct evolutionarily and are probably the result of allopatric speciation, their distribution later converging. Given that A. florea is more widely distributed and A. andreniformis is considerably more aggressive, honey is - if at all - usually harvested from the former only. They are the most ancient extant lineage of honey bees, maybe diverging in the Bartonian (some 40 mya or slightly later) from the other lineages, but among themselves do not seem to have diverged a long time before the Neogene.(Arias & Sheppard 2005)

Honey bees as a group appear to have their center of origin in South and Southeast Asia (including the Philippines), as all but one of the extant species are native to that region, notably the most plesiomorphic living species (Apis florea and A. andreniformis). ^[1] The first Apis bees appear in the fossil record at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, in European deposits dating about 35 million years ago. The origin of these prehistoric honey bees does not necessarily indicate that Europe is where the genus originated, only that it occurred there at that time. There are few known fossil deposits in the suspected region of honeybee origin, and fewer still have been thoroughly studied; moreover, the tropical conditions are generally not ideal for fossilization of small land animals.

The close relatives of modern honey bees - e.g. bumblebees and stingless bees - are also social to some degree, and thus social behavior seems a plesiomorphic trait that predates the origin of the genus. Among the extant members of Apis, the more basal species make single, exposed combs, while the more recently-evolved species nest in cavities and have multiple combs, which has greatly facilitated their domestication.

Most species have historically been cultured or at least exploited for honey and beeswax by humans indigenous to their native ranges. Only two of these species have been truly domesticated, one (Apis mellifera) at least since the time of the building of the Egyptian pyramids, and only that species has been moved extensively beyond its native range.

Today's honey bees constitute three clades (Engel 1999, Arias & Sheppard 2005

بال زنبورها به هنگام پرواز بیش از 200 بار در ثانیه به هم می‌خورد. علت وزوز آنها هم همین حرکت سریع بالهایشان است. خیلی‌ها گمان می‌کنند زنبورها با وزوز کردن با هم حرف می‌زنند اما زنبورها قادر به شنیدن نیستند. در واقع آنها اصلا گوش ندارند. آنها با احساس لرزش شاخک‌ها یا پاها با هم ارتباط برقرار می‌کنند. نحوه برقراری ارتباط زنبورها هنگامی که مشغول "رقص دم جنبان" هستند به خوبی آشکار می‌شود. "رقص دم جنبان" اجرای حرکات موزوئی است که در آن زنبور ضمن جنباندن دم خود ، بالهایش را نیز بسیار سریع به هم می‌زند و صدای وزوز مشخص ایجاد می‌کند.

(جواب سوال خانم ندا ملکی از اصفهان)