Honey bee one queen bee, a fertile female; seasonally up to a few thousand drone bees, or fertile males; and tens of thousands of sterile female worker bees. Details vary among the different species of honey bees, but common features include: In cold climates, honey bees stop flying when the temperature drops below about and crowd into the central area of the hive to form a "winter cluster". The worker bees huddle around the queen bee at the center of the cluster, shivering to keep the center between at the start of winter (during the broodless period) and once the queen resumes
Honey bee where little of substance can be said about the exact relationships of many "A. mellifera" subspecies. "Apis mellifera" is not native to the Americas, so was not present upon the arrival of the European explorers and colonists. However, other native bee species were kept and traded by indigenous peoples. 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)