The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typically its form is adapted to functions such as preparing a place for the egg, transmitting the egg, and then placing it properly. For most insects, the organ is used merely to attach the egg to some surface, but for many parasitic species, it is a piercing organ as well.
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The common fig (F. carica) is a temperate species native to southwest Asia and the Mediterranean region, which has been widely cultivated from ancient times for its fruit, also referred to as figs. The fruit of most other species are also edible though they are usually of only local economic importance or eaten as bushfood. However, they are extremely important food resources for wildlife. Figs are also of considerable cultural importance throughout the tropics, both as objects of worship and for their many practical uses.
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.
The family Agaonidae is a group of pollinating and nonpollinating fig wasps. They spend their larval stage inside the fruits of figs. The pollinating wasps are the mutualistic partners of the fig trees. The non-pollinating fig wasps are parasitoids. Extinct forms from the Eocene and Miocene are nearly identical to modern forms, suggesting that the niche has been stable over geologic time.
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".
Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang, the jelly fig, is a variety of Ficus pumila, and a member of the fig family Moraceae. Awkeotsang is Taiwanese, named after the daughter (Aiyu) of the individual who discovered gel-forming properties in 1921.
Ficus aurea, commonly known as the Florida strangler fig, golden fig, or higuerón, is a tree in the family Moraceae that is native to the U.S. state of Florida, the northern and western Caribbean, southern Mexico and Central America south to Panama. The specific epithet aurea was applied by English botanist Thomas Nuttall who described the species in 1846.
Pegoscapus is a genus of fig wasp native to the Americas. They range from Florida and Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south. Fig wasps have an obligate mutualism with the fig species they pollinate. Pegoscapus pollinates species in section Americana of the subgenus Urostigma.
Ficus maxima is a fig tree which is native to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America south to Paraguay. Figs belong to the family Moraceae. The specific epithet maxima was coined by Scottish botanist Philip Miller in 1768; Miller's name was applied to this species in the Flora of Jamaica, but it was later determined that Miller's description was actually of the species now known as Ficus aurea. To avoid confusion, Cornelis Berg proposed that the name should be conserved for this species. Berg's proposal was accepted in 2005.
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.
Ficus obliqua, commonly known as the small-leaved fig, is a tree in the family Moraceae, native to eastern Australia, New Guinea, eastern Indonesia to Sulawesi and islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Previously known for many years as Ficus eugenioides, it is a banyan of the genus Ficus, which contains around 750 species worldwide in warm climates, including the edible fig. Beginning life as a seedling, which grows on other plants (epiphyte) or on rocks (lithophyte), F. obliqua can grow to 60 m (200 ft) high and nearly as wide with a pale grey buttressed trunk, and glossy green leaves.
Pleistodontes froggatti is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with the Moreton Bay Fig, Ficus macrophylla, the species it pollinates. Outside Australia, populations have become established in Hawaii and New Zealand where it was either accidentally introduced or arrived by long-distance dispersal.
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 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.
The genus Ficus is composed of 800 species of vines, shrubs, and trees, defined by their syconiums, the fruit-like vessels that either hold female flowers or pollen on the inside. In addition to being cultivated by humans for thousands of years, Ficus is also known for their reproductive mutualism with the fig wasp.
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.
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 and have been observed most often utilizing the egg case (ootheca) of Stagomantis carolina, but have also been reported to choose S.limbata or Tenodera augustipennis as hosts, showing a high degree of specialization. The ootheca is made up of tanning agents and structural proteins that, while being deposited, is liquidy and tacky, but soon hardens into a stiff foam. The female Podagrion can parasitize the ootheca in either the fresh or hardened state. The female uses her long ovipositor to deposit an egg into the ootheca; as the eggs are developing they consume the mantid larvae before emerging as an adult. The cumulative effect of several generations of parasitoid wasps on ootheca are estimated to cause over 30% loss of developing mantids and there is a clear negative correlation between parasitoid burden and mantid eclosure.
