Bald-faced hornet to laying eggs while the workers take over all other necessary housekeeping tasks. At some point, sometime before the midpoint of colony life, the colony will begin to invest energy in producing reproductives as well. This marks the transition into the reproductive stage. There is an extensive time period where both workers and reproductives are raised. Production of both castes limits the size of the work force. However, an early switching time is highly adaptive for social wasp colonies in limiting the risk of total loss. In a sampling of 50 colonies taken in Maryland in 1977, workers were produced
Oriental hornet the control unit hornets, were unable to climb on the walls or stay in clusters. Instead, they stayed motionless and apart from each other. Roughly 3 to 4 days upon returning to earth, the hornets started climbing on the walls again and building a nest. The surviving hornets lived for an average of 23 days, compared to an average survival of 43 days for the control group hornets. Oriental hornet The Oriental hornet, "Vespa orientalis", is a social insect of the family Vespidae. It can be found in Southwest Asia, Northeast Africa, the island of Madagascar, the Middle East and