B. ZHAO, R. D. HARRISON, D. R. YANG

when the fig develops the eggs of the wasp hatch and forms into larvae. There are several species in non-pollinating wasp deposit egg after pollination and this type of wasps act a parasite to the fig.

1996, Kerdelhue et al. The female wasp burrows inside the fig through a narrow opening called an ostiole.

DOI 10.1007/s00114-008-0502-9 After the pollination the female wasp will die and the fig consumes her corpse. Naturwissenschaften 96 (4):543-549,2009. Not all species in these groups are parasitic.

In addition, figs are parasitized by a suite of non-mutualistic wasps whose basic ecology is largely undescribed.

Ecology of parasite Sycophilomorpha sp. Fengping Zhang, Yanqiong Peng, Stephen G. Compton, Yi Zhao and Darong Yang * Host pollination mode and mutualist pollinator presence: net effect of internally ovipositing parasite in the fig–wasp mutualism. 2000, Weiblen 2002, Cook and Rasplus 2003) and other non-pollinating hymenop- on Ficus altissima and its effect on the fig-fig wasp mutualism - Volume 137 Issue 13 - Y. Q. PENG, J.

Sycophilomorpha (subfamily Epichrysomallinae) fig wasps are ovule gallers and the genus contains only 1 described species. fig-fig wasp mutualism is the target of a large variety of arthropod species, including specialised non-pollinating chalcidoid wasps (Compton and Hawkins 1992, West et al.

The nursery pollination mutualism between figs and pollinating fig wasps is based on adaptations that allow wasps to enter the enclosed inflorescences of figs, to facili Abstract. CiteSeerX - Document Details (Isaac Councill, Lee Giles, Pradeep Teregowda): Figs and their pollinating wasps are a classic example of an obligate mutualism.

This closed mutualistic system is not immune to parasitic fig wasps.

For instance, the tiny (1/32 inch) fig wasp, Blastophaga psenes Linnaeus (Chalcidoidea, Agaonidae) and related species are essential pollinators of certain fig varieties, with larvae that develop only inside a gall in wild Caprifig flowers. The nursery pollination mutualism between figs and pollinating fig wasps is based on adaptations that allow wasps to enter the enclosed inflorescences of figs, to facilitate seed set, and to have offspring that develop within the nursery and that leave to enter other inflorescences for pollination.

If she arrives in a male fig, she is able to lay her eggs in an ideal environment and then dies.