The Bald-faced Hornet

Common Name:
Baldfaced Hornet
Scientific Name:
Dolichovespula maculata (Linnaeus)
Class/Order/Family:
Insecta/Hymenoptera/Vespidae
Metamorphosis:
Complete

INTRODUCTION

This atypically large black-and-white yellowjacket gets its common name of baldfaced from its largely black color but mostly white face, and that of hornet because of its large size and aerial nest. Baldfaced hornets are found throughout the United States.

RECOGNITION

Adult workers about 5/8-3/4+" (15-20+ mm) long; queens about 3/4+" (20+ mm). Color black with white pattern on most of face, as 2 angled stripes on thorax towards head, and on last 3 abdominal segments. Head with clypeus (upper lip) broadly truncate, slightly notched at apex. Hind wing without a jugal lobe (lobe on rear near body). Pronotum in lateral view almost triangular, extending to tegulae (structure at base of front wing) or nearly so. Middle tibia with 2 apical spurs. Builds paper enclosed aerial nests, grey in color.

SIMILAR GROUPS

  1. Other Dolichovespula spp. (Vespidae) with pale markings on lst 3 abdominal segments, less than 5/8" (15 mm) long.

  2. Yellowjackets (Vespula spp.) with yellow markings including on lst 3 abdominal segments, usually less than 5/8" (15 mm).

  3. European hornet (Vespa crabro) with pale markings on lst 3 abdominal segments, nest envelope brown.


BIOLOGY

Baldfaced hornets are social insects which live in aerial nests. The adults are represented by workers which are sterile females, queens, and males which come from unfertilized eggs and usually appear in the late summer. Only inseminated females overwinter and do so in sheltered places. In the spring, she uses chewed-up cellulose material to build a paper carton nest of several dozen cells covered by a paper envelope. One egg is laid in each cell as it is constructed. The queen feeds the developing larvae arthropod protein material and nectar. After about 30 days, the first 5 to 7 workers emerge and shortly thereafter take over all the work except for egg laying.

The nest will eventually consist of 3-5 rounded paper combs which are open ventrally and attached one below another, and are covered with a many-layered envelope. Nest size varies up to 3,500 cells in 5 combs but usually consists of less than 2,000 cells in 3-4 combs and contains 100-400 workers at its peak (range to 636 workers). Later in the season, larger reproductive cells are built in which queens and males will be reared; males are often reared in old worker cells. The colony is then entering the declining phase. The newly emerged queens and males leave the nest and mate. Only inseminated queens hibernate and survive the winter. The founding queen, the workers, and the males all die.

HABITS

The overwintering queen selects the nest site. This can vary from shrubs or vines at ground level to 66 ft (20 m) or higher in trees. Nests may also be built on overhangs, utility poles, houses, sheds, or other structures. Nearly all nests are constructed in exposed locations. At maturity, the nests can be quite impressive with sizes of up to 14" (35 cm) in diameter and over 24" (60+ cm) in length.

Often nests located in vegetation are not discovered until the leaves fall in the autumn. Nests are not reused the next season.