Apidae

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i'Apidae'
Carpenter bee Xylocopa micans on Vitex
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Suborder: Apocrita Superfamily: Apoidea Family: Apidae
Subfamilies
Apinae - Honeybees, Bumblebees, Stingless bees Euglossini - Orchid bees and others Nomadinae - Cuckoo bees Xylocopinae - Carpenter bees

The Apidae are a large family of bees, comprising the common honeybees, stingless bees (which are also cultured for honey), carpenter bees, orchid bees, cuckoo bees, bumblebees, and various other less well-known groups. Honeybees, stingless bees, and bumblebees are colonial (eusocial), though they are sometimes believed to have each developed this independently, and show notable differences in such things as communication between workers. Carpenter bees are solitary, though they tend to be gregarious. The nomadines are all cleptoparasites in the nests of other bees.

The family Apidae presently includes all the genera that were previously classified in the families Anthophoridae and Ctenoplectridae, and most of these are solitary species, though a few are also cleptoparasites. The four groups that were subfamilies in the old family Apidae are presently ranked as tribes within the subfamily Apinae. This trend has been taken to its extreme in a few recent classifications that place all the existing bee families together under the name "Apidae" (or, alternatively, the non-Linnaean clade "Anthophila"), but this is not a widely-accepted practice.

For one such example, see this AMNH page.