The known species of bees
Nectar is almost 80% water with some complex sugars. While many species of insects consume nectar, honeybees refine and concentrate nectar to make honey. The human fascination with this insect began thousands of years ago when people discovered what wonderfully tasty stuff honey is. More has been written about honeybees than any other species of insect. Some other types of related bees produce and store honey, but only members of the genus Apis are true honey bees. Honey bees represent only a small fraction of the approximately 20,000 buy honey bees known species of bees. Currently, there are only seven recognized species of honey bee with a total of 44 subspecies though historically, anywhere from six to eleven species have been recognized. Honey bees are a subset of bees, primarily distinguished by the production and storage of honey and the construction of perennial, colonial nests out of wax.