Forcing her way through the ostiole, the mated mature female often loses her wings and most of her antennae. To facilitate her passage through the ostiole, the underside of the female’s head is covered with short spines that provide purchase on the walls of the ostiole.
In depositing her eggs, the female also deposits pollen she picked up from her original host fig. This pollinates some of the female flowers on the inside surface of the fig and allows them to mature. After the female wasp lays her eggs and follows through with pollination, she dies.[15]
After pollination, there are several species of non-pollinating wasps that deposit their eggs before the figs harden. These wasps act as parasites to either the fig or possibly the pollinating wasps.
As the fig develops, the wasp eggs hatch and develop into larvae. After going through the pupal stage, the mature male’s first act is to mate with a female - before the female hatches. Consequently, the female will emerge pregnant. The males of many species lack wings and cannot survive outside the fig for a sustained period of time. After mating, a male wasp begins to dig out of the fig, creating a tunnel through which the females escape.[16]
Once out of the fig, the male wasps quickly die. The females find their way out, picking up pollen as they do. They then fly to another tree of the same species, where they deposit their eggs and allow the cycle to begin again.
Not much of a life. Larvae can already be argued to be the main stage of life in many insects, as they get to chill around and munch on plants for ages, while adults have to fly somewhere, shag, lay eggs and croak. With these wasps, the adult male has things way more straightforward for him, and the female seems to not even get to enjoy the larval stage.
Yes exactly. They are both dependent on each other in that way.
And to add on to that, figs are super important food trees in the tropics, because they are the only trees that produce fruits all year around. (Because they have to, otherwise the fig wasp population couldn’t sustain itself.) So many animal species are also dependent on the steady food source of fig trees (btw most look very different from the common fig tree, Ficus carica).
Actually it’s not. This is 100% human fault. Fig trees and fig wasps from the same (natural) area do not have this problem. When (I believe California?) imported a ton of trees and wasps to cultivate giant fig farms, they just didn’t care that the wasps they got would die during pollination. It was a known issue, that just got ignored. Completely preventable.
You’re just plain wrong. Figs and fig wasps have been coevolving for millions of years, and this is just how these species of fig and wasp evolved. Lots of animals have evolved to die after they reproduce. This is nature and has nothing to do with commercial fig growers
Nature is not weird? What that person described is not weird? It’s weird. You cannot convince me nature is not weird. Because nature is so fucking WEEEEEEIRDDDD
FYI they are very fucking small nowhere near as big as in this image. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig_wasp
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard told me they were big though
https://kinggizzard.bandcamp.com/track/big-fig-wasp
Not much of a life. Larvae can already be argued to be the main stage of life in many insects, as they get to chill around and munch on plants for ages, while adults have to fly somewhere, shag, lay eggs and croak. With these wasps, the adult male has things way more straightforward for him, and the female seems to not even get to enjoy the larval stage.
Yes however it’s a ghost wasp. It can take whatever phantom size it damn well pleases
This is interesting. Regarding a sentence:
Does it mean the figs cannot mature without the wasp ? Does it mean that each ripe fig has been visited by a wasp ?
Yes exactly. They are both dependent on each other in that way.
And to add on to that, figs are super important food trees in the tropics, because they are the only trees that produce fruits all year around. (Because they have to, otherwise the fig wasp population couldn’t sustain itself.) So many animal species are also dependent on the steady food source of fig trees (btw most look very different from the common fig tree, Ficus carica).
I mean, a fruit with seeds is formed from a flower after pollination. It’s just that on the figs, the flower is apparently inside the unripe fruit.
Nature is so fucking WEEEEIRD
Actually it’s not. This is 100% human fault. Fig trees and fig wasps from the same (natural) area do not have this problem. When (I believe California?) imported a ton of trees and wasps to cultivate giant fig farms, they just didn’t care that the wasps they got would die during pollination. It was a known issue, that just got ignored. Completely preventable.
You’re just plain wrong. Figs and fig wasps have been coevolving for millions of years, and this is just how these species of fig and wasp evolved. Lots of animals have evolved to die after they reproduce. This is nature and has nothing to do with commercial fig growers
Nature is not weird? What that person described is not weird? It’s weird. You cannot convince me nature is not weird. Because nature is so fucking WEEEEEEIRDDDD
Fair
What problem do you mean?
The blastophaga psenes wasps in Turkey die during pollination just like the blastophaga psenes wasps in California do.
Here is more information about how figs (and fig wasps) came to be cultivated in the US.
If you look at the detail in the ghosty wasp, it’s clear that it’s just an edited image of a wasp pasted onto a fig
I wonder where they got that image from…
The first result for a fig wasp in a search engine? Nah, that’d be too obvious!
Yeah when they’re alive, but everyone knows you grow larger when you become a ghost
I went and looked that up on my own and I could’ve just clicked into the comments?!
When i came to the post there were no comments to quell my worries so i had to check and share what i found :D
10/10 would read again!