Fig wasp: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|groupGroup of mostly pollinating insects whose larvae live in figs.}}

| image = Blastophaga_psenes.jpg

The non-pollinating wasps have developed impressive morphological adaptations in order to oviposit eggs inside the fig but from the outside: an extremely long [[ovipositor]].{{Cn|date=June 2021}}

Most figs (more than 600 species) have syconia that contain three types of [[flower]]s: male, short female, and long female. Female fig wasps can reach the ovaries of short female flowers with their ovipositors, but not long female flowers. Thus, the short female flowers grow wasps, and the long flowers only seeds. Contrary to popular belief, ripe figs are not full of dead wasps and the "crunchy bits" in the fruit are only seeds. The fig actually produces an enzyme called [[ficain]] (also known as ficin) which digests the dead wasps and the fig absorbs the nutrients to create the ripe fruits and seeds.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://askabiologist.asu.edu/figs-without-wasps | title=Figs Without Wasps?| date=2012-10-11}}</ref> Several commercial and ornamental varieties of fig are [[parthenocarpic]] and do not require pollination to produce (sterile) fruits; these varieties need not be visited by fig wasps to bear fruit.<ref>Roy, D. (2019). Tropical/subtropical fruit crops: Fig. In ''Breeding of fruit crops'' (pp. 113-115). Alpha Science International Ltd.</ref>

Though the lives of individual species differ, a typical pollinating fig wasp life cycle is as follows. At the beginning of the cycle, a mated mature female pollinator wasp enters the immature "fruit" (actually a stem-like structure known as a [[syconium]]) through a small natural opening (the [[ostiole]]) and [[oviposition|deposits]] her eggs in the cavity.

Forcing her way through the ostiole, shethe mated mature female often loses her wings and most of her [[Antenna (biology)|antennae]]. To facilitate her passage through the ostiole, the underside of the female's head is covered with short spines that provide purchase on the walls of the ostiole.

In depositing her eggs, the female also deposits pollen she picked up from her original host fig. This pollinates some of the female flowers on the inside surface of the fig and allows them to mature. After the female wasp lays her eggs and follows through with pollination, she dies.

The fig–wasp [[Mutualism (biology)|mutualism]] originated between 70 and 90 million years ago as the product of a unique evolutionary event.<ref>{{Harvnb|Machado|Jousselin|Kjellberg|Compton|2001}}</ref><ref name="Cook-Rasplus">{{Harvnb|Cook|Rasplus|2003}}</ref><ref name="Herre-etal-2008">Herre et al. (2008)</ref> Since then, [[reproductive coevolution in Ficus|cocladogenesis and coadaptation on a coarse scale between wasp genera and fig sections]] have been demonstrated by both morphological and molecular studies.<ref name="Herre-etal-2008" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Molbo|Machado|Sevenster|Keller|2003}}</ref> This illustrates the tendency towards coradiation of figs and wasps.<ref name="Herre-etal-2008" /> Such strict cospeciation should result in identical [[phylogenetic tree]]s for the two lineages <ref name="Cook-Rasplus" /> and recent work mapping fig sections onto molecular phylogenies of wasp genera and performing statistical comparisons has provided strong evidence for cospeciation at that scale.<ref name="Cook-Rasplus" />

Groups of genetically well-defined pollinator wasp species [[coevolution|coevolve]] in association with groups of genetically poorly defined figs.<ref name="Machado-etal-2005">{{Harvnb|Machado| C.A., Robbins| N., Gilbert| M.T.P., Herre| E.A. Critical review of host specificity and this coevolutionary implications in the fig/fig-wasp mutualism. (2005}}). ''Proc. Of the National Acad. Of Sci. of the U.S.A''.102(1), 6558-6565. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0501840102</ref> The constant hybridization of the figs promotes the constant evolution of new pollinator wasp species. [[Host switch]]ing and pollinator host sharing may contribute to the incredible diversity of figs and fig wasp species like ''[[Pegoscapus]]'' as they result in hybridization and introgression''.''<ref name="Machado-etal-2005" />

**[[EpichrysomallinaePteromalinae]]

***''[[AcophilaAdiyodiella]]''

***''[[AsycobiaApocrypta]]''

***''[[CamarothoraxArachonia]]''

***''[[EpichrysomallaBouceka]]''

***''[[Marginalia (genuswasp)|Marginalia]]''

***''[[WalkerellaPhilotrypesis]]''

***''[[Seres (genuswasp)|Seres]]''

{{div col- end}}

One of the world's major fig wasp collections resides in [[Leeds Museums & Galleries|Leeds Museums and Galleries]]' [[Leeds Discovery Centre|Discovery Centre.]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Natural Science – Leeds Museums and Galleries|url=https://museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov.uk/about-us/collections/natural-science/|access-date=19 August 2020|website=Leeds Museums and Galleries}}</ref> and was collected by Dr. Steve Compton.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Compton|first=Steve|title=Dr Steve Compton|url=https://biologicalsciences.leeds.ac.uk/school-of-biology/staff/49/dr-steve-compton|access-date=19 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Compton|first=S|title=Host‐parasitoid relationships within figs of an invasive fig tree: a fig wasp community structured by gall size|journal=Insect Conservation and Diversity|year=2018|volume=11:4|issue=4|pages=341–351|doi=10.1111/icad.12282|s2cid=89701549|url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/139055/1/Host-parasitoid%20relationships%20within%20figs%20of%20an%20invasive%20fig%20tree.pdf}}</ref>

| last1 = Cook |firstfirst1 = James M.

* {{Cite journal|last1=Machado|first1=Carlos A.|last2=Robbins|first2=Nancy|last3=Gilbert|first3=M. Thomas P.|last4=Herre|first4=Edward Allen|title=Critical review of host specificity and its coevolutionary implications in the fig-fig-wasp mutualism|url=http://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/102/suppl_1/6558.full.pdf|journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]]|volume=102|date=April 2005|issue=Suppl 1 |pages=6558–65|pmid=15851680|pmc=1131861|doi=10.1073/pnas.0501840102|bibcode=2005PNAS..102.6558M|doi-access=free}}<!-- {{Harvnb|Machado|Robbins|Gilbert|Herre|2005}} -->

* {{Cite journal|last1=Molbo|first1=Drude|last2=Machado|first2=Carlos A.|last3=Sevenster|first3=Jan G.|last4=Keller|first4=Laurent|last5=Herre|first5=Edward Allen|title=Cryptic species of fig-pollinating wasps: implications for the evolution of the fig-wasp mutualism, sex allocation, and precision of adaptation|url=http://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/100/10/5867.full.pdf|journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]]|date=May 13, 2003|volume=100|issue=10|pages=5867–72|doi=10.1073/pnas.0930903100|pmid=12714682|pmc=156293|bibcode=2003PNAS..100.5867M|doi-access=free}}<!-- {{Harvnb|Molbo|Machado|Sevenster|Keller|2003}} -->

{{commonsCommons|Fig wasp|Fig wasp}}