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
Bald-faced hornet in different nests and workers in one colony might be as large as a queen in a different one. "D. maculata" create egg-shaped, paper nests up to in diameter and in length. Nests are layered hexagonal combs covered by a mottled gray paper envelope. Bald-faced Hornets create this paper envelope by collecting and chewing naturally occurring fibers. The wood fiber mixes with their saliva to become a pulpy substance that they can then form into place. The bald-faced hornet lives in North America, including Canada, the Rocky Mountains, the western coast of the United States, and most of the eastern