Trees retaliate when their fig wasps don't service them
Figs and fig wasps have evolved to help each other out: Fig wasps lay their eggs inside the fruit where the wasp larvae can safely develop, and in return, the wasps pollinate the figs.
Figs and fig wasps have evolved to help each other out: Fig wasps lay their eggs inside the fruit where the wasp larvae can safely develop, and in return, the wasps pollinate the figs.
Plants & Animals
Jan 27, 2010
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A 115-million-year-old fossilized wasp from northeast Brazil presents a baffling puzzle to researchers. The wasp's ovipositor, the organ through which it lays its eggs, looks a lot like those of present-day wasps that lay ...
Archaeology
Dec 5, 2013
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The world's oldest known example of a fig wasp has been found on the Isle of Wight. The fossil wasp is almost identical to the modern species, proving that this tiny but specialised insect has remained virtually unchanged ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 15, 2010
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In an article published at journal Acta Oecologica, Brazilian biologist Luciano Palmieri Rocha has proposed a new phase of the development cycle of fig trees (Ficus carica) and their specific pollinators, fig wasps from the ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 29, 2018
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When both partners benefit from a relationship—be they husband and wife or pollinator and flower—the relationship is known as a mutualism. But sometimes partners do not deliver their side of the bargain while still reaping ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 20, 2017
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Figs and the wasps that pollinate them present one of biologists' favorite examples of a beneficial relationship between two different species. In exchange for the pollination service provided by the wasp, the fig fruit provides ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 14, 2010
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"Don't put all your eggs in one basket" is a common refrain. But usually it is not followed by the words "because your neighbours may kill you". However, this is precisely the scenario faced by some female Brazilian fig wasps ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 28, 2015
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Published online in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, the study confirms that placid male pollinator fig wasps work together to chew an escape tunnel for their females, before crawling back into the fig to die ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 1, 2011
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They may only be 1.5mm in size, but the tiny wasps that pollinate fig trees can travel over 160km in less than 48 hours, according to research from scientists at the University of Leeds. The fig wasps are transporting pollen ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 9, 2009
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Tiny worms that live inside fig trees use the fig wasp as a 'vehicle' to hitch rides from one tree to another by crawling into the wasp's gut without harming it. This relationship has existed for millions of years. But how ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 15, 2021
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