Bald-faced hornet Bald-faced hornet Dolichovespula maculata is a eusocial wasp of the cosmopolitan family Vespidae. Its colloquial names include the bald-faced hornet, bald hornet, white-faced hornet, white-tailed hornet, spruce wasp, blackjacket, and bull wasp. This species is a yellowjacket wasp, not a true hornet (genus "Vespa"). Colonies contain 400 to 700 workers, the largest recorded colony size in its genus, "Dolichovespula". It builds a characteristic large hanging paper nest up to 58 centimetres (23 in) in length. Workers aggressively defend their nest by repeatedly stinging invaders. "Dolichovespula maculata" is distributed throughout the United States and southern Canada, but is most common in
Bald-faced hornet and colonies whose work force diminishes too early in the colony's life cycle will suffer a greater overall total loss in reproductives. A colony is divided into sterile males, female workers and the queen. All females are born with reproductive capacities. Caste systems are determined by larval feeding regime. G.T. Felippotti examined caste distribution amongst females in five small cell colonies and six large cell colonies. Small cell colonies had one queen and 17–21 female workers. Large cell colonies had 2–6 queens and 10–52 workers. Morphological comparisons revealed that queens are always larger than workers in the same colonies. Cuticular