? Fig wasps
Blastophaga psenes
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Suborder: Apocrita Superfamily: Chalcidoidea Family: Agaonidae
Subfamilies
Agaoninae Epichrysomallinae Otitesellinae Sycoecinae Sycophaginae Sycoryctinae

Fig wasps are wasps of the family Agaonidae which pollinate figs or are otherwise associated with figs. Image File history File links Blastophaga_psenes. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms (as opposed to folk taxonomy). ... Phyla Animals are a major group of organisms, classified as the kingdom Animalia or Meta­zoa. ... Subphyla and Classes Arthropods (phylum Arthropoda) (from Greek ἀρθρον, meaning joint and πούς/ποδός, meaning foot) are the largest phylum of animals and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others. ... Classes & Orders See taxonomy Insects are invertebrate animals of the Class Insecta, the largest and (on land) most widely-distributed taxon within the phylum Arthropoda. ... Suborders Apocrita Symphyta Many families, see article Hymenoptera is one of the larger orders of Insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. ... Superfamilies Apoidea Ceraphronoidea Chalcidoidea Chrysidoidea Cynipoidea Evanioidea Ichneumonoidea Megalyroidea Proctotrupoidea Sphecoidea Stephanoidea Triganalyoidea Vespoidea Many families, see article Apocrita is a suborder of insects in the order Hymenoptera. ... Chalcidoidea is a superfamily of Hymenoptera There are nineteen families Agaonidae Walker, 1846 Aphelinidae Thomson, 1876 Chalcididae Latreille, 1817 Encyrtidae Walker, 1837 Eucharitidae Latreille, 1809 Eulophidae (including Elasmidae) Westwood, 1829 Eupelmidae Walker, 1833 Eurytomidae Walker, 1832 Leucospidae Fabricius, 1775 Mymaridae Haliday, 1833 Ormyridae Forster, 1856 Perilampidae Latreille, 1809 Pteromalidae Dalman... WASP is a folk-sociological term for a member of the white establishment. Although the word is derived from an acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, in practice its use has expanded beyond the strict meaning of the acronym; in use, it is frequently derogatory. ... A flower-fly pollinating a Common Daisy (Bellis perennis) Pollination is an important step in the reproduction of seed plants: the transfer of pollen grains (male gametes) to the plant carpel, the structure that contains the ovule (female gamete). ... Species About 800, including: Ficus altissima Ficus americana Ficus aurea Ficus benghalensis- Indian Banyan Ficus benjamina- Weeping Fig Ficus broadwayi Ficus carica- Common Fig Ficus citrifolia Ficus coronata Ficus drupacea Ficus elastica Ficus godeffroyi Ficus grenadensis Ficus hartii Ficus lyrata Ficus macbrideii Ficus macrophylla- Moreton Bay Fig Ficus microcarpa- Chinese...

The family as presently defined is polyphyletic, including several unrelated lineages whose similarities are based upon their shared association with figs; efforts are underway to resolve the matter, and remove a number of constituent groups to other families, particularly the Pteromalidae and Torymidae. Thus, the number of genera in the family is in flux. Probably only the Agaoninae should be regarded as belonging to the Agaonidae, whilst the Sycoecinae, Otitesellinae and Sycoryctinae should be included in the Pteromalidae. Placement of the Sycophaginae and Epichrysomallinae remains uncertain. In biology, a taxon is polyphyletic if it is descended from more than one root form (in Greek poly = many and phyletic = racial). ... Torymidae is a family of wasps that consists of rather slender species. ...

Among the Agaonidae, the female is a normal insect, while the males are mostly wingless. The male's only tasks are to mate with the females while still within the fig syconium and chew a hole for the females to escape from the fig interior. This is the reverse of Strepsiptera and the bagworm, where the male is a normal insect and the female never leaves the host. strawberry: the seeds are the real fruits achenes An accessory fruit is a fruit where the fleshy part is derived not from the ovary but from some adjacent tissue. ... Families Mengenillidae Mengeidae Stylopidae Bohartillidae Corioxenidae Halictophagidae Callipharixenidae Elenchidae Myrmecolacidae Species in the nine families of this small (~600 species) order of insects are parasites in other insects; their hosts include bees, wasps, leafhoppers, silverfish, and cockroaches. ... Binomial name Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis (Haworth, 1803) The Bagworm (Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis) is a moth that spins its cocoon all its larval life, decorating it with bits of juniper, thuja, cypress, pine, spruce, cedar, and other such conifers, on which it also feeds. ...

Most figs have three kinds of flowers: male, short female, and long female. Female fig wasps can reach the ovaries of short female flowers with their ovipositors, but not long female flowers. Thus the short flowers grow wasps, whereas the long flowers become seeds. In figs of this sort, the crunchy bits in the fruit contain both seeds and wasps. However, there are several commercial and ornamental varieties of fig that are self-fertile and do not require pollination; these varieties are not visited by fig wasps. Clivia miniata right hereflowers. ...

Pollinating fig wasps (Agaoninae) are specific to specific figs. The common fig Ficus carica is pollinated by Blastophaga psenes.

Genera

Genera currently included in Agaonidae according to the Universal Chalcidoidea Database:

• Acophila
• Adiyodiella
• Aepocerus
• Agaon
• Alfonsiella
• Allotriozoon
• Anidarnes
• Apocrypta
• Apocryptophagus
• Arachonia
• Asycobia
• Blastophaga
• Camarothorax
• Ceratosolen
• Comptoniella
• Courtella
• Critogaster
• Crossogaster
• Deilagaon
• Diaziella
• Dobunabaa
• Dolichoris
• Elisabethiella
• Epichrysomalla
• Eufroggattisca
• Eujacobsonia
• Eukoebelea
• Eupristina
• Grandiana
• Grasseiana
• Guadalia
• Herodotia
• Heterandrium
• Idarnes
• Josephiella
• Kradibia
• Lachaisea
• Leeuweniella
• Liporrhopalum
• Lipothymus
• Marginalia
• Meselatus
• Micranisa
• Micrognathophora
• Neoukobelea
• Neosycophila
• Nigeriella
• Odontofroggatia
• Otitesella
• Paragaon
• Parapilkhanivora
• Parasycobia
• Pegoscapus
• Philocaenus
• Philosycella
• Philosycus
• Philotrypesis
• Philoverdance
• Platyscapa
• Pleistodontes
• Pseudidarnes
• Robertsia
• Seres
• Sycobia
• Sycobiomorphella
• Sycoecus
• Sycomacophila
• Sycophaga
• Sycophilodes
• Sycophilomorpha
• Sycoscapter
• Sycotetra
• Tenka
• Tetrapus
• Walkerella
• Waterstoniella
• Watshamiella
• Wiebesia

Reference

• Rasplus, J.-Y., Kerdelhuse, C., Clainche, I. le & Mondor, G. 1998. Molecular phylogeny of fig wasps. Agaonidae are not monophyletic. Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences (III) 321(6):517-527

External links

• Video: Interaction of figs and fig wasps Multi-award-winning documentary
• Figs and fig wasps