 |
|||
| Class: | Order: | Family: | |
| Insecta | Hymenoptera | Vespidae | |
|
|||
| Size: | Baldfaced hornet workers are about 5/8-3/4+ in (15-20+ mm) or more long; queens are 3/4+ in (20+ mm) long. |
| Color: | Mostly black with a white pattern on most of its face, hence the common name, "baldfaced." |
| Characteristics: | Baldfaced hornets are quite large. They build paper enclosed, gray, aerial nests. |
| Geographic Range: | All through the United States |
| Food: | Other insects, flower nectar |
| Biology: | Baldfaced hornets are social insects with queens that lay fertilized eggs, workers that are sterile females, and males that come from unfertilized eggs in late summer. Only queens overwinter. In spring a queen builds a nest from chewed up cellulose, and lays one egg in each compartment or cell as she builds it. She feeds the larvae protein from other insects, and flower nectar. When the first workers emerge a month later, they take over feeding and nest building, while she continues to lay eggs. Eventually there will be 3-5 combs or clusters (of several hundred cells each) which are attached one below the other. The nest will have 100-400 workers at its most active time. Later, when the colony is declining, larger cells are built to raise queens and males. Newly hatched queens and males leave the nest to mate. The queen that started this year's nest, the workers, and the males all die. Only the new queens survive the winter by hibernation in sheltered places. |
