The genus Ficus (figs) and their agaonid pollinating fig wasps are a classic example of coevolution. It represents perhaps the most extreme and ancient (about 75 million years) obligate pollination mutualism known.
Plants & Animals
Feb 3, 2021
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Researchers from Uppsala University and elsewhere have been studying the effect of rising temperatures on the lifespan of pollinating fig wasps. The findings show that the wasps lived much shorter lives at high temperatures, ...
Ecology
Sep 23, 2022
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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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