Fig Tree with Unrelated Fig Wasps

Aravind Krishnan K. | Gayathri G. S. | Sreedevi Amma

Abstract: A few non-agaonid wasps can enter figs to oviposit and effectively pollinate their fig hosts. In the study site (Karakulam, Thiruvananthapuram) Ficus hispida is pollinated by Ceratosolen marchali (Agaonidae). Two species of non-agaonid fig wasps, Philotrypesis pilosa and Apocrypta bakeri, also enter the fig to oviposit. Yet such wasps do not establish a mutualistic relationship with figs similar to that of agaonids. Using controlled experiments in which only one foundress per species was introduced to a fig, and compared the effect of the three wasp species on pollination. It has been recorded that foundress distribution in the fig female floral phase, and counted the number of wasps and seeds in the male floral phase, and found both non-agaonids are efficient pollinators too. The species of fig-entering non-agaonid wasps significantly reduced the number of C. marchali emerging from mature figs but had no effect on seed production. If P. pilosa or A. bakeri was introduced to figs containing one foundress of C. marchali, both non-agaonid wasps produced offspring. But without the C. marchali, P. pilosa and A. bakeri failed to reproduce. P. pilosa and A. bakeri depend on the agaonid, C. marchali, to make galls. Because they depend on the legitimate pollinator to make galls, neither P. pilosa nor A. bakeri is able to replace the agaonid wasp and establish a mutualistic relationship with their host fig tree

Keywords: Ficus, mutualism, pollinating fig wasp, parasitism, non-pollinating fig wasps

Edition: Volume 6 Issue 1, January 2017,

Pages: 1591 - 1593