I understand the early imports of Apis mellifera were via spanish
traders. These were badly suited to tropical conditions and failed to
make use of different patterns of nectar flow. There are a number of
important plants which have nectar flows before dawn, and the spanish
origin bees wouldn't be up and about until it was light, hence the
later imports of africanised bees which eveolved in a similarly
tropical part of the world. I would have thought first imports of
Apis m. would have been in the late 1700s, early 1800s. Andrew.