Agaonidae Temporal range: | |
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Blastophaga psenes | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Superfamily: | Chalcidoidea |
Family: | Agaonidae Walker, 1848 |
Subfamilies | |
The family Agaonidae is a group of pollinating fig wasps. They spend their larval stage inside the fruits of figs. The pollinating wasps (Agaoninae, Kradibiinae, and Tetrapusiinae) are the mutualistic partners of the fig trees. Extinct forms from the Eocene and Miocene are nearly identical to modern forms, suggesting that the niche has been stable over geologic time. [1]
Females emerge from ripe figs and fly to another fig tree with developing syconia (which contain the flowers). They enter the syconium via the ostiole, pollinate the flowers, and lay their eggs in some of the ovules. The parasitized ovules develop into galls that support the growth of the wasp larvae. Prior to the final ripening of the fig, wingless males emerge from the galls they developed in. The males enter the galls of their winged sibling females and mate with them. [2]
The family has changed several times since its taxonomic appearance after the work of Francis Walker in 1846 [3] described from the wasp genus Agaon . Previously the subfamilies Epichrysomallinae, Otitesellinae, Sycoecinae, Sycoryctinae, Sycophaginae, and Agaoninae were the subdivisions of the family. [4] Recent works building strong molecular phylogenies with an extended sampling size have changed the composition of Agaonidae. The paraphyletic groups have been excluded; Epichrysomallinae was raised to family status (Epichrysomallidae), whereas Otitesellinae, Sycoecinae, Sycophaginae, and Sycoryctinae were transferred to Pteromalidae. New subfamilies have been instated (Kradibiinae and Tetrapusiinae). [5] [6] [7] [8]
The relationship between fig trees and agaonid fig wasps is an obligate mutualism that has evolved over a period of about sixty million years. [9]
The pollinating female fig wasps are winged and in general dark, while the males are mostly wingless and whitish. This difference of color is probably due to a clear split in the gender role. Once they have mated, male and female fig wasps have different fates. In some fig species, such as Ficus subpisocarpa or Ficus tinctoria , the males have to chew a hole for the females to leave their natal fig. The winged female wasps can fly over long distances before finding another fig to oviposit in it, while the male dies after chewing a hole. As the fig is closed by a tight ostiole, the female wasps have developed adaptations to enter. First, the mandibles of the female wasps have developed specialized mandibular appendages to help them crawl into the figs. These appendages are adapted to the host fig species, with for instance spiraled ostioles matched by spiral mandibular appendages. [10]
Fig wasps are wasps of the superfamily Chalcidoidea which spend their larval stage inside figs. Some are pollinators but others simply feed off the plant. The non-pollinators belong to several groups within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, while the pollinators are in the family Agaonidae. While pollinating fig wasps are gall-makers, the remaining types either make their own galls or usurp the galls of other fig wasps; reports of their being parasitoids are considered dubious.
Chalcid wasps are insects within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, part of the order Hymenoptera. The superfamily contains some 22,500 known species, and an estimated total diversity of more than 500,000 species, meaning the vast majority have yet to be discovered and described. The name "chalcid" is often confused with the name "chalcidid", though the latter refers strictly to one constituent family, the Chalcididae, rather than the superfamily as a whole; accordingly, most recent publications (e.g.,) use the name "chalcidoid" when referring to members of the superfamily.
Torymidae is a family of wasps in the superfamily Chalcidoidea. Most species in this family are small with attractive metallic coloration, and females generally have long ovipositors. Many are parasitoids on gall-forming insects, and some are phytophagous (plant-eating) species, sometimes using the galls formed by other insects. Over 960 species in about 70 genera are found worldwide. They are best recognized in that they are one of the few groups of Chalcidoidea in which the cerci are visible.
The Aphelinidae are a moderate-sized family of tiny parasitic wasps, with about 1100 described species in some 28 genera. These minute insects are challenging to study, as they deteriorate rapidly after death unless extreme care is taken, making identification of most museum specimens difficult. The larvae of the majority are primary parasitoids on Hemiptera, though other hosts are attacked, and details of the life history can be variable. Males and females may have different hosts and different life histories.
The Leucospidae are a specialized group of wasps within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, that are ectoparasitoids of aculeate wasps or bees. They are typically mimics of bees or stinging wasps, often black with yellow, red, or white markings, sometimes metallic, with a robust mesosoma and very strong sculpturing. The hind femora are often greatly enlarged, with a row of teeth or serrations along the lower margin as in Chalcididae. The wing has a longitudinal fold. The female ovipositor is sometimes short, but if not, it is recurved and lies along the dorsal side of the metasoma, a unique feature. The males are also unusual, in the fusion of many of the metasomal segments to form a capsule-like "carapace".
The Ormyridae are a small family of parasitic wasps in the superfamily Chalcidoidea. They are either parasitoids or hyperparasitoids on gall-forming insects, primarily cynipid wasps and tephritid flies. The 120 or so species are cosmopolitan, except almost entirely absent from South America.
Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang, also known as the jelly fig, aiyu, or ai-yu, is a variety of Ficus pumila, and a member of the fig family Moraceae, native to Taiwan. The plant is known for its use in making aiyu jelly.
Ficus americana, commonly known as the West Indian laurel fig or Jamaican cherry fig, is a tree in the family Moraceae which is native to the Caribbean, Mexico in the north, through Central and South America south to southern Brazil. It is an introduced species in Florida, USA. The species is variable; the five recognised subspecies were previously placed in a large number of other species.
Pleistodontes is a genus of fig wasps native to Australia and New Guinea, with one species from Java. Fig wasps have an obligate mutualism with the fig species they pollinate. Pleistodontes pollinates species in section Malvanthera of the Ficus subgenus Urostigma.
Trisecodes is a genus of parasitic chalcid wasps of the family Systasidae. The genus was originally placed in Eulophidae, based on a number of morphological features, but molecular evidence suggests that the genus is more closely related to Systasis and Semiotellus. The type species is a parasitoid of a range of Agromyzid leaf-mining flies.
Blastophaga is a wasp genus in the family Agaonidae which pollinate figs or are otherwise associated with figs, a coevolutional relationship that has been developing for at least 80 million years. Pollinating fig wasps are specific to specific figs. The common fig Ficus carica is pollinated by Blastophaga psenes.
Blastophaga psenes is a wasp species in the genus Blastophaga. It pollinates the common fig Ficus carica and the closely related Ficus palmata. Without a colony or nest, these wasps breed in figs, and the adults live for only a few days or weeks. They locate the fig they wish to pollinate through olfactory senses.
Ceratosolen is an Old World wasp genus in the family Agaonidae. They are pollinators of the monoecious fig subsections Sycomorus and Sycocarpus, and the section Neomorphe, all belonging to the subgenus Sycomorus. The genus is native to the Palearctic, Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Australasian realms.
Apocrypta is an Old World genus of parasitic fig wasps in the family Pteromalidae. They are parasitoids of gall-wasps in the Sycophagini tribe, and especially Ceratosolen species, pollinators of the Sycomorus, Sycocarpus and Neomorphe sections of Ficus. They seem to be fig species-specific.
Robertsia is a genus of fig wasps in the family Pteromalidae, native to Papua New Guinea.
Sycoscapter is a genus of non-pollinating fig wasp which is native to the Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Australasian realms. They are parasitoids of fig wasps in the Ceratosolen, Eupristina and Kradibia genera.
Wiebesia pumilae is a fig wasp species in Genus Wiebesia, Family Agaonidae. W. pumilae is the pollinator of Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang and Ficus pumila var. pumila. The scientific name was first published as Blastophaga pumilae in 1967 by Hill.
Spalangiidae is a family of chalcid wasps that are parasitoids of flies. The two subfamilies were moved from the family Pteromalidae to create this family in 2022. They are now known to be more closely related to the planidial clade of chalcid wasps than to the core Pteromalidae.
Podagrion mantis was first described in 1886 by W.H. Ashmead, and was the first species of its genus to have been described from the United States. All species in the genus are parasitoid wasps known only to parasitize mantids. They have been observed most often utilizing the egg case (ootheca) of Stagmomantis carolina, but have also been reported to choose S.limbata or Tenodera angustipennis as hosts, showing a high degree of specialization.
Platyscapa soraria is a species of fig wasp; it is the pollinator of Ficus ingens.