Vespa maculata

The bald-faced hornet is distinguished from other yellowjackets by its striking black-and-white coloring. It has a white or "bald-faced" head, which is the source of its colloquial name. This wasp also has three white stripes at the end of its body and is notably larger than other species of Dolichovespula, as adults average about 19 mm (0.75 in) in length. Queen and worker wasps have similar morphologies. Queens are always larger than workers in their colonies, though size distributions can vary in different nests, and workers in one colony might be as large as a queen in a different one. D. maculata creates egg-shaped, paper nests up to 360 mm (14 in) in diameter and 580 mm (23 in) 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 United States. It is most common in the Southeastern United States. D. maculata is found in forested areas and in vegetation in urban areas. Nests are generally located in trees and bushes, but occasionally are found under rock overhangs or the sides of buildings. Vertical distribution of nests has been recorded from heights of 0.3 to 20 m (1 ft 0 in to 65 ft 7 in) above ground level.

Bald-faced hornets are omnivorous, and considered to be beneficial due to their predation of flies, caterpillars, and spiders. Their aggressive defensive nature, though, makes them a threat to humans who wander too close to a nest or when a nest is constructed too close to human habitation. They vigorously defend the nest, with workers stinging repeatedly, as is common among social bees and wasps. The bald-faced hornet has a unique defense in that it can squirt or spray venom from the stinger into the eyes of vertebrate nest intruders. The venom causes immediate watering of the eyes and temporary blindness.