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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.
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 ...
In some fig species, such as Ficus subpisocarpa or Ficus tinctoria, the males have to chew a hole for the females to leave their natal fig. The winged female wasps can fly over long distances before finding another fig to oviposit in it, while the male dies after chewing a hole. As the fig is closed by a tight ostiole, the female wasps have ...
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]
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.
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 ...
Figs and fig wasps have had a symbiotic relationship throughout history. [8] The fig wasps need the figs in order to reproduce, while the figs rely on the wasps to aid them in their pollination. [9] In wilder forms of the plant, without pollination the young developing fig will fall off of the tree without ripening.
If you frequently eat figs, you may never want to eat one again after seeing this video.