worker laid eggs out of the nest or otherwise destroy them. All of this information helps to explain the high level of relatedness in the colony and that relatedness helps to explain the eusocial behaviour of these wasps. Worker-queen conflict Conflict often develops between queens and workers of haplodiploid species because workers are more related to their sisters than their brothers or their parental queens. This results in them trying to push the sex ratio so that there are more females produced by the queen than males. At the same time, however, it is best for the queen to keep a 1:1 ratio of male and female offspring because she is equally related to both. D. media workers and queens have been observed policing worker laid eggs which helps to push the ratio more towards the females. This may help to keep worker-queen conflict from getting worse since workers do not produce many offspring in the nest. Parasites and pathogens Ophiocordyceps sphecocephala is a type of fungus that is known to attack wasps including D. media. It produces red-yellow fruiting bodies on long white or yellow stalks. It is not known if this fungus kills living wasps or if it simply attacks dead insects, but there is some evidence to suggest that overwintering queens can be infected. Either way this fungus is not a major threat to a wasp colony. A pathogen that has been found to infect the median wasp is the Cricket paralysis virus. This virus causes insects to become paralyzed and die with a nearly 100% mortality rate once infected. Once a nest is infected this virus could quickly destroy the entire colony, however, there is little data documenting how widespread this virus is among D. media. Human importance Median wasps may be considered a pest by some because its nests are usually built in shrubs or on houses where they are easily disturbed. These nests are typically built out in the open and are often destroyed by people. Despite this the species is not very aggressive and tends to fly away instead of attack if disturbed. However, it may sting if it feels its nest is threatened. The sting of the median wasp is comparable to many other wasp species and should be treated with a cold compress and an antihistamine to reduce swelling unless a more serious allergic reaction occurs. D. media is attracted to