The fig wasp means something to you? If not, you should take a look at this article. These insects are truly impressive. They obtained co-evolve with fig trees and enjoy their fruits, while pollinating them. In addition, they are distinguished above all by the fact that they spend their larval life inside the figs.
If you’re feeling a little curious about these bugs, I recommend you keep reading. We will explain what is the fig wasp and what is its life cycle. We will also talk about what they do to figs and their correlation.
Contents
What is the fig wasp?
When we talk about fig wasps, we are referring to wasps belonging to the superfamily Chalcidoid. Two different types can be distinguished: Pollinating and non-pollinating fig trees, They only eat plants. The former are part of the family Agaonidae. Instead, non-pollinators belong to various families within the superfamily Chalcidoid.
The fig wasp is a key insect in many ecosystems. As expected, figs serve as food for many different animal species, thus being vital for various living beings in the respective ecosystems. Therefore, the pollinators of these vegetables are also pollinators.
Fig Tree Wasp: Biological Cycle
Now that we know what a fig wasp is, let’s see what its life cycle is. This is closely related to fig trees, as they use them as hosts. As we have already mentioned before, there are pollinating and non-pollinating wasps. The former are part of a biological mutualism, ie: The fig wasp and fig trees interact biologically, benefiting each other and enhancing their biological fitness. Instead, non-pollinators only benefit from this correlation. Despite this, the life cycles of both types of wasps are very similar.
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types of pollination
In the case of fig pollinating wasps, the females, once mature and fertilized, They enter inside the immature fig and lay their eggs there. Entry is through the ostiole, a natural hole found in the fruit. Once inside, they search for the stigmas of the flowers to lay their eggs there. As the ostiole through which they enter is generally very narrow, it is very common for females to lose their wings and/or their antennae when entering. In order to facilitate their penetration into the fig, they have small spines at the base of the head thanks to which they can cling to the walls of the entrance hole.
As the mother wasp was also born in another fig, she acquired pollen in the same one that when laying her eggs, she leaves in the new fruit, thus fulfilling its function as a pollinator. Then it ends up dying inside the fig, which absorbs it to acquire nutrients.
Wasp larvae in figs
Apart from fig pollinating wasps, there are many species from different families that also lay their eggs inside these fruits, but do not pollinate them. They are parasites of the fig tree and surely also of other wasps. Like the previous ones, they spend their larval life inside the fruit.
As the fig grows and matures, the wasps complete their life cycle. The males of many species of wasps are wingless. they therefore remain inside the fig to mate with the females. Then they dig a tunnel so that all the fertilized females can come out in search of another fig. Some of the males end up dying inside the fruit, or fall outside, where they will eventually die in a short time.
The main difference between pollinating and non-pollinating wasps, when it comes to their life cycle, is that the first harvest the pollen from the fig in which they were born and they leave it in the fig where they lay their eggs.
What do fig wasps do?
Now knowing the life cycle of fig wasps, let’s discuss in more detail what the fruits do. For this, it should be noted that, at least in the family AgaonidaeFemales have wings while males do not. One of their purposes is to mate inside the sicone. What is that? A syconum is a structure that houses very many small flowers. As some of you may already know, fig trees produce their flowers inside figs. Therefore, they are not technically fruits, but syconia. The other purpose that the males must fulfill is to enlarge the opening of this siconum, or fig, so that the females can exit from its interior.
Some species of fig wasps, including the females of the family Agaonidae, penetrate the figs to lay their eggs there, more precisely in the stigmas of the small flowers which are inside. Some species belonging to other families of this type of non-pollinating wasps they came to develop a so-called ovipositor. It is a very long organ with which they can lay their eggs without having to enter the fig, but they can do so from the outside. An example would be the subfamily Sycoryctinae.
figs eat wasps
There are over 600 different species of figs. The vast majority of them have syconia with three different types of flowers: short-piled female, long-piled female and male. Agaonid wasps can only lay their eggs in female flowers that have short pistils, the others are pollinated and eventually produce seeds. The female wasp dies inside the fig. This contains enzymes capable of digesting these insects and absorbing their nutrients.
As on many occasions, nature never ceases to amaze us. The way different species help each other is truly amazing. If it’s true that most people don’t like wasps very much, it goes to show that They are essential to ecosystems.