Bee Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous – Present,
The sugarbag bee, Tetragonula carbonaria
Scientific classification
Unrecognized taxon (fix):	Anthophila
Families
Andrenidae Apidae Colletidae Halictidae Megachilidae Melittidae Stenotritidae
Synonyms
Apiformes (from Latin 'apis')

Bumblebee at work

Bees are flying insects of the Hymenoptera, which also includes ants, wasps and sawflies. There are about 20,000 species of bees. Bees collect pollen from flowers. Bees can be found on all continents except Antarctica.

Bees fall into four groups:

• Honeybees, including the Africanized honeybee, are in the genus Apis. The group is first known from Europe, at the Eocene–Oligocene boundary.
• Bumblebees: 250 species in the Apidae family.
• Stingless bees: 550 species in the Meliponini.
• Solitary bees: solitary in the sense that every female is fertile, and usually lives in a nest she builds herself. There are quite a few of these, for example the carpenter bees, leafcutter bees and mason bees (and there are others).

The European honey bee (called Apis mellifera by biologists), is kept by humans for honey. Keeping bees to make honey is called beekeeping, or apiculture.