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You’ve probably heard rumors about figs being filled with small wasps. Without the tiny bugs, the Ficus species, the producer of figs, would go extinct.
In the cultivated fig, there are also asexual mutants. Fig trees either produce hermaphrodite fruit or female figs; only the female figs are palatable to humans. In exchange for a safe place for their eggs and larvae, fig wasps help pollinate the ficus by crawling inside the tiny hole in the apex of the fig, called the ostiole, without knowing ...
When the female wasps enter the opening of a fig, their wings and antennae detach. [9] Upon dissecting a fig, the wings of the wasps can be seen at the opening of the fig. Additionally, adult wasps, larvae, and eggs are found within the fig. [7] The wasps are free-living and their lifespan spans from a few days to weeks. [4]
After pollination, there are several species of non-pollinating wasps that deposit their eggs before the figs harden. These wasps act as parasites to either the fig or possibly the pollinating wasps. As the fig develops, the wasp eggs hatch and develop into larvae. After going through the pupal stage, the mature male’s first act is to mate ...
The tear-dropped pod know as a fig may seem like a fruit, but it's actually a flower. And that's just one of the jaw-dropping facts to learn about them.
The relationship of fig and fig wasp is a classic example of obligate mutualism and coevolution. Only pollinating wasps pollinate the figs, while fig wasps only lay their eggs inside the fig ovules. [5] [6] Jelly fig pollinating W. pumilae are different from Creeping fig pollinating W. pumilae in gene expression. [7]
There are roughly 300 species of solitary wasps in California, she added. Yellowjackets and paper wasps are the two most common social wasp species in Northern California, Kimsey said.
Pleistodontes froggatti only reproduces in figs of its host tree. Figs have an obligate mutualism with fig wasps, (Agaonidae); figs are only pollinated by fig wasps, and fig wasps can only reproduce in fig flowers. Pleistodontes froggatti can only reproduce in the syconia of its host species, the Moreton Bay Fig, Ficus macrophylla.