The first fossil honey bee (Apini: Apis  Linnaeus) from the New World is
described and figured, expanding the former native range of the tribe Apini
into the Western Hemisphere.  Apis nearctica  sp. nov., is represented by a
single female worker preserved in paper shale from the Middle Miocene of
Stewart Valley, Nevada. 

The species belongs to the armbrusteri  species group (= Cascapis  Engel)
and is most similar to the extinct species A. armbrusteri  Zeuner from the
Miocene of southwestern Germany. The species is described and its affinities
discussed, as well as its implica- tions for our understanding of honey bee
and corbiculate bee biogeography and evolution. 

-- 
"A Honey Bee from the Miocene of Nevada and the 
Biogeography of Apis (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apini)"
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
Series 4, Volume 60, No. 3, pp. 23–38, May 7, 2009

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