Bald-faced hornet viable brood in the comb fragment. The physical nature of cues mediating natal comb recognition is unknown, though some researchers propose distinct cuticular hydrocarbon profiles allow wasps to recognize nest mates. "D. maculata" is characterized by low paternity, worker reproduction and queen-worker conflict. Divergent genetic interests between workers and their queen cause intra-nest struggle for control, which disrupts social organization. Because of haplodiploidy, workers are unable to mate. However, their unfertilized eggs become males. Workers and their queens are most related to their own sons. Natural selection will therefore favor those workers who produce their own sons rather than rearing
An Egyptian Hornet An Egyptian Hornet An Egyptian Hornet is a short story written by Algernon Blackwood. The story has first appeared in 1915 in "Reedy's Mirror". Rev. James Milligan goes for his morning bath. On his way to the bath he encounters an Egyptian Hornet in the hallway leading to the bathroom of the hotel he is staying in. At first the hornet frightens him. Then in his mind he describes the hornet in which, to his own disgust, he uses a more feminine erotic terminology. As he hesitates to enter the bathroom, an other guest in the hotel Mr. Mullins, is