Bees and their ancestors have been around for a long time, potentially as far back as the time before Pangaea split into Gondwanaland (southern hemisphere land masses) and Laurasia (nothern hemisphere land masses) as both have similar bees, this relates to a period some 250m years ago.  We should be considering a disclaimer here tho as the science of continental drift is the 'new kid on the block' as it is only just over a hundred years old. It's fair to assume that what we believe today is fairly accurate as we can corroborate current movement with modern day measurement of land mass. eg. India is moving north at a rate of 50mm per year forcing the Himalaya's to grow higher. 

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Many experts feel that Honeybees divergeded from Sphecoid Wasps in the mid cretacious period 100m years ago. The earliest fossils are from the Eocene period some 40m years ago and as these can clearly show that these bees were highly specialised it is fair to assume that they arose much earlier.

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Loosely there are 10 -11 families of bees in two groups. Short Tongued and more advanced Long Tongued. Our Honeybee is in the Long Tongued group. Classification is Apidae. All Apidae have pollen baskets. This includes Bumble Bees (Bombini), Orchid bees (Eglossini), Stingless bees (Meliponinae). Our Honeybee subspecies of Apidae-Apini is Called Apis Melifera. These are then further split by geographical regions and those in the UK region are named Apis Melifera Melifera.

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It is not possible to consider the evolution of Apis Melifera without considering the symbiotic evolution of Angiosperm plants - Plants that were evolving with colour, odour and shapes and the ability to produce nectar and an excess of pollen to attract and reward bees. The bees in turn providing a mechanism for the transferrance of the male seed pollen to female receptors. This very clever teamwork has been the dominant driver of recent evolutionary history. Without this the world may well have had different evolutionary outcomes. Our current unknown is that the potential loss of the honeybee may well threaten our food security and  there is a real risk of widespread global famine. This is the number one reason why Dave wants to introduce as many new faces to the most facinating social insect as the honeybee needs you!