Dolichovespula maculata

Hello,

I have a baldfaced hornet colony that I am observing by my home. I noticed that most of the workers have very thin white stripes on the ventral part of the thorax. However, it is interesting that some workers (even the small ones) have very broad white stripes that I would have thought only queens have. These are workers because they are participating in nest building and I see them leaving the nest to what I assume forage. They seem too small to be queens. Basically I just think it is interesting that some workers would have the thick/broad thorax stripes that I assumed only the queens would have.

Thanks for reading and any replies are appreciated.