Morphology of a female honey bee.

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). 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.
Internal anatomy of a bee: hive-dwelling social insect which produces honey and wax.
Dorsal aorta : blood vessel in the back of a bee that carries blood from the heart to the organs.
Esophagus : part of the digestive system just after the mouth.
Heart : blood-pumping organ.
Intestine : final part of the digestive system.
Rectum : last part of the intestine.
Sting : stinger of a bee.
Nail : pointed nail of a bee.
Venom sac : pocket containing the bee's venon.
Crop : bulge between the esophagus and the gizzard of a bee.
Ventral nervous system : the collection of nerves in the abdomen.
Pharynx : intersection of the respiratory and digestive tracts.
Antenna : organ of touch of a bee.
Brain : seat of the mental faculties of a bee.
Salivary gland : glandular organ that produces saliva.

Morphology of a bee: hive-dwelling social insect which produces honey and wax
Head : foremost part.
Thorax : central part.
Abdomen : rear part.
Wing : appendage of a bee used for aerial locomotion.
Segment : part of the abdomen.
Hind leg : rear limb.
Nail : pointed nail of a bee.
Middle leg : middle limb.
Fore leg : front limb.
Spur : projecting part of the foreleg of a bee.
Tarsus : each of the parts that make up the segment of the bee's leg below the tibia.
Tibia : central part of the bee's leg.
Femur : first part of the bee's leg.
Mouth parts : parts of the mouth.
Compound eye : complex sight organ.
Antenna : touch organ of a bee.
Dwarf honey bees – subgenus Micrapis
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)
Giant honey bees – subgenus Megapis
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.
• Apis dorsata, the Giant honey bee proper, is native and widespread across most of South and Southeast Asia.
• Apis dorsata binghami, the Indonesian honey bee, is classified as the Indonesian subspecies of the Giant honey bee or a distinct species; in the latter case, A. d. breviligula and/or other lineages would probably also have to be considered species.
• Apis dorsata laboriosa, the Himalayan honey bee, was initially described as a distinct species. Later, it was included in A. dorsata as a subspecies (Engel 1999) based on the biological species concept, though authors applying a genetic species concept have suggested it should be considered a species (Arias & Sheppard 2005). Essentially restricted to the Himalayas, it differs little from the Giant honey bee in appearance, but has extensive behavioral adaptations which enable it to nest in the open at high altitudes despite low ambient temperatures. It is the largest living honey bee.