Dee Lusby wrote:
"in a big book by Crane yesterday and saw a note about a person in the 16th century having observed bees in Peru building combs in holes in trees the same way as bees in Europe .... I'd certainly like to know who was observing the european like comb by bees in Peru back then."

To be able to better judge what the note in Crane's book means, we need to know the exact wording. From the synopsis Dee gave us, it is not possible to assume that the comb referred to is European-like. The phrase "the same way as bees in Europe" could to be referring to either the way they make comb or the fact they build combs in holes in trees.

There are several genera of highly social, comb building, honey making stingless bees (Family Meliponini) that live in Latin America from Mexico south as far as Argentina, including Bolivia and other countries bordering Peru. Many of these choose hollow trees as their preferred nesting site, and some even have large entrance holes guarded by a cluster of workers, much as a honey bee colony would. The difference is that, on the whole, meliponine bees make horizontal comb, although, apparently, there are exceptions.

Matthew Shepherd
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Matthew Shepherd, Pollinator Program Director
The Xerces Society
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