As I said Dean, "If I'm wrong, then I apologise". It seemed initially that the bees may have been complete and not mounted specimen parts sealed up.
Rash of me perhaps, but from "a sample of honey bees", rather than wing samples from honey bees, I feel my interpretation was not unfair.
Please accept my unreserved apology, I was wrong. Cautious, but wrong. Times have indeed changed.
I remember someone on the same VC10 as myself arriving at Brize Norton late at night bringing back a large box of iced fresh fish, caught on Acension Island that morning,, through Customs and Immigration. The person in question was an Airmover, so new the regulations and his argument was that Ascension Island was British. The debate went on for a few minutes, but he eventually got to bring them in.
That was 1973, I suspect that he would have to talk a little more to be able to pull it off today.
As O90o said, Australia and Canada (NZ too) are a bit trigger happy about anything. Either you have bio security or you don't, so I can see where they are at. I'm no expert on the subject.