DIVERSITY
In addition to the familiar European honey bee , there are six other recognized species of honey bees , including the Indian honey bee , Koschevnikov ' s honey bee , the dwarf honey bee , the andreniform dwarf honey bee , the giant honey bee , and the mountain giant honey bee . The European , the Indian , and to some extent the dwarf honey bees are the species that have been domesticated , although the European honey bee is by far the most widespread domesticated bee and the only species kept in North America .
There are many races of the European honey bee . The ones most popular in modern beekeeping are the Italian , Carniolan , and Caucasian . Most honey bees used in hives today are mixtures of these and sometimes other races . Africanized honey bees , also known as killer bees , are a hybrid of African and European races naturalized in the western hemisphere .