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
Hornet Squadron Hornet Squadron Hornet Squadron is the name of a fictional Royal Flying Corps, and later Royal Air Force, fighter squadron featured in a number of novels by British author Derek Robinson. Hornet Squadron first appeared in Robinson's 1983 novel "Piece of Cake", which spans the period from the start of the Second World War through the Battle of Britain. In 1988 Piece of Cake became a 6-part television mini-series. In the book the squadron flies the Hawker Hurricane while in the television series, the Supermarine Spitfire is flown. The next Hornet Squadron book was "War Story" (1987) set in 1916