Fig wasp
Fig wasps | |
---|---|
Blastophaga psenes female | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Suborder: | Apocrita |
Infraorder: | Proctotrupomorpha |
Superfamily: | Chalcidoidea |
Fig wasps are
History
Taxonomy
The fig wasps are a
Morphological adaptations
Among the Agaonidae, the female is a normal insect, while the males are mostly wingless. The males' only tasks are to mate with the females while still within the fig
Most figs (more than 600 species) have syconia that contain three types of
Life cycle
This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2021) |
The
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
Forcing her way through the ostiole, the mated mature female often loses her wings and most of her 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.
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 with a female - before the female hatches. Consequently, the female will emerge pregnant. The males of many species lack wings and cannot survive outside the fig for a sustained period of time. After mating, a male wasp begins to dig out of the fig, creating a tunnel through which the females escape.
Once out of the fig, the male wasps quickly die. The females find their way out, picking up pollen as they do. They then fly to another tree of the same species, where they deposit their eggs and allow the cycle to begin again.
Coevolution
The fig–wasp mutualism originated between 70 and 90 million years ago as the product of a unique evolutionary event.[8][9][10] Since then, cocladogenesis and coadaptation on a coarse scale between wasp genera and fig sections have been demonstrated by both morphological and molecular studies.[10][11] This illustrates the tendency towards coradiation of figs and wasps.[10] Such strict cospeciation should result in identical phylogenetic trees for the two lineages[9] 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.[9]
Groups of genetically well-defined pollinator wasp species coevolve in association with groups of genetically poorly defined figs.[12] The constant hybridization of the figs promotes the constant evolution of new pollinator wasp species. Host switching and pollinator host sharing may contribute to the incredible diversity of figs.[12]
Genera
Fig wasps genera and classification according to the various publications:[3][4][13][14]
- Agaonidae
- Agaoninae
- Kradibiinae
- Sycophaginae
- Tetrapusiinae
- Epichrysomallidae
- Pteromalidae
- Colotrechinae
- Pteromalinae
- Adiyodiella
- Apocrypta
- Arachonia
- Bouceka
- Comptoniella
- Critogaster
- Crossogaster
- Diaziella
- Dobunabaa
- Eujacobsonia
- Ficicola
- Gaudalia
- Grandiana
- Grasseiana
- Hansonita
- Lipothymus
- Marginalia
- Micranisa
- Micrognathophora
- Otitesella
- Parasycobia
- Philocaenus
- Philosycus
- Philosycella
- Philotrypesis
- Philoverdance
- Robertsia
- Seres
- Sycoecus
- Sycoscapter
- Walkerella
- Watshamiella
- Ormyridae
- Eurytomidae
- Torymidae
Museum collections
One of the world's major fig wasp collections resides in Leeds Museums and Galleries' Discovery Centre,[15] and was collected by Dr. Steve Compton.[16][17]
References
- ^ Boucek, Z. 1988. Australasian Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera): a biosystematic revision of genera of fourteen families, with a reclassification of species. C.A.B. International, Wallingford, England. 832 pp.
- ISBN 978-1-4088-3622-4.
- ^ a b Cruaud et al. 2010
- ^ a b c Heraty et al. 2013
- ^ "Figs Without Wasps?". 2012-10-11.
- ^ Roy, D. (2019). Tropical/subtropical fruit crops: Fig. In Breeding of fruit crops (pp. 113-115). Alpha Science International Ltd.
- S2CID 35479915. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
- ^ Machado et al. 2001
- ^ a b c Cook & Rasplus 2003
- ^ a b c Herre et al. (2008)
- ^ Molbo et al. 2003
- ^ a b Machado et al. 2005
- ^ Cruaud et al. 2011
- Wikidata Q115923766.
- ^ "Natural Science – Leeds Museums and Galleries". Leeds Museums and Galleries. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
- ^ Compton, Steve. "Dr Steve Compton". Retrieved 19 August 2020.
- S2CID 89701549.
Sources
- Cook, James M.; Rasplus, Jean-Yves (May 2003). "Mutualists with attitude: coevolving fig wasps and figs" (PDF). .
- Cruaud, Astrid; et al. (August 2010). "Laying the foundations for a new classification of Agaonidae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea), a multilocus phylogenetic approach". S2CID 85436401.
- Cruaud, Astrid; et al. (June 2011). "Phylogeny and evolution of life-history strategies in the Sycophaginae non-pollinating fig wasps (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea)". PMID 21696591.
- Heraty, John M.; Burks, Roger A.; Cruaud, A; Gibson, Gary A P; Liljeblad, Johan; Munro, James; Rasplus, Jean-Yves; Delvare, Gerard; Janšta, Peter; Gumovsky, Alex; Huber, John; Woolley, James B.; Krogmann, Lars; Heydon, Steve; Polaszek, Andrew; Schmidt, Stefan; Darling, D. Chris; Gates, Michael W.; Mottern, Jason; Murray, Elizabeth; Dal Molin, Ana; Triapitsyn, Serguei; Baur, Hannes; Pinto, John D.; van Noort, Simon; George, Jeremiah; Yoder, Matthew (October 2013). "A phylogenetic analysis of the megadiverse Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera)". S2CID 86061702.
- Machado, Carlos A.; Robbins, Nancy; Gilbert, M. Thomas P.; Herre, Edward Allen (April 2005). "Critical review of host specificity and its coevolutionary implications in the fig-fig-wasp mutualism" (PDF). PMID 15851680.
- Machado, Carlos A.; Jousselin, Emmanuelle; Kjellberg, Finn; Compton, Stephen G.; Herre, Edward Allen (April 7, 2001). "Phylogenetic relationships, historical biogeography and character evolution of fig-pollinating wasps". PMID 11321056.
- Molbo, Drude; Machado, Carlos A.; Sevenster, Jan G.; Keller, Laurent; Herre, Edward Allen (May 13, 2003). "Cryptic species of fig-pollinating wasps: implications for the evolution of the fig-wasp mutualism, sex allocation, and precision of adaptation" (PDF). PMID 12714682.
- Rasplus, Jean-Yves; Kerdelhué, Carole; Le Clainche, Isabelle; Mondor, Guénaëlle (June 1998). "Molecular phylogeny of fig wasps Agaonidae are not monophyletic". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série III. 321 (6): 517–26. PMID 9841095.
Further reading
- Crair, Ben (10 August 2016). "Love the Fig - Annals of Technology". The New Yorker.
- Shanahan, Mike (1 November 2016). Gods, Wasps and Stranglers: The Secret History and Redemptive Future of Fig Trees. Chelsea Green Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60358-715-0.
- Janzen, Daniel H. (November 1979). "How to be a Fig" (PDF). JSTOR 2096784. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
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