Biogeography and Taxonomy of Honeybees

Honeybees are as small as flies or as large as hornets, nesting in nar­ row cavities of trees and rocks or in the open on large limbs of trees 30 m above ground. They occur in tropical zones and in the forests of the Ural mountains, they survive seven months of winter and even longer periods of drought and heat. Historically, they lived through a extended time of stagnation in the tropics from the mid-Tertiary, but then experienced an explosive evolution during the Pleisene, re­ sulting in ...