Pleistodontes froggatti

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Pleistodontes froggatti
Pleistodontes froggatti.jpg
Pleistodontes froggatti
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Agaonidae
Subfamily: Agaoninae
Genus: Pleistodontes
Species:
P. froggatti
Binomial name
Pleistodontes froggatti
Mayr, 1906
Synonyms

Pleistodontes semirucifeps Girault
Pleistodontes listziGirault
Pleistodontes mayriGirault [1]

Contents

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. [1] Outside of Australia, populations have become established in Hawaii (where it was deliberately introduced) [2] and New Zealand where it was either accidentally introduced or arrived by long-distance dispersal. [3]

Description

Pleistodontes froggatti from Hawaii Pleistodontes frogatti.jpg
Pleistodontes froggatti from Hawaii

Pleistodontes froggatti is a small wasp. Females are 3.0–3.4 mm (0.12–0.13 in) long with black, brown and reddish brown bodies. Males are 1.5 mm (0.059 in) in length, with yellow and orange bodies. [1]

Taxonomy

The specific epithet, froggatti, is in honour of Australian entomologist W. W. Froggatt. The first account of the species' biology was written by Froggatt in 1901, who imperfectly identified it as Pleistodontes imperialis . Austrian entomologist Gustav Mayr re-described the species in 1906 and named it in honour of Froggatt. [1]

Reproduction

Ficus macrophylla figs in Hawaii. Pleistodontes froggatti only reproduces in figs of its host tree. Starr 000501-1307 Ficus macrophylla.jpg
Ficus macrophylla figs in Hawaii. Pleistodontes froggatti only reproduces in figs of its host tree.

Figs have an obligate mutualism with fig wasps, (Agaonidae); figs are only pollinated by fig wasps, and fig wasps can only reproduce in fig flowers. Pleistodontes froggatti can only reproduce in the syconia of its host species, the Moreton Bay Fig, Ficus macrophylla.

Distribution

Ficus macrophylla is native to southeast Queensland, eastern New South Wales and Lord Howe Island, and has been planted widely across the world. Pleistodontes froggatti has been found across most of the range of its host tree in Australia. [1] It also occurs in New Zealand [3] and Hawaii. [2]

The Maui Pineapple Company introduced F. macrophylla to its lands in the 1920s. P. froggatti was introduced to Hawaii in 1921 [4] and has been recorded from the islands of Hawaiʻi, Lānaʻi, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu and Molokaʻi. [5] It is also presumed present on Maui, given that F. macrophylla is naturalised on the island. [4] It has also been collected in the Midway Atoll. [6]

Pleistodontes froggatti was first recorded in New Zealand in 1993, a 3,000 km (1,900 mi) journey from its nearest range in Australia. Adult female wasps usually live 2–3 days; there are, on average, 21 days over the course of a year during which it would be possible for make the trip in 1–3 days on air currents. In addition, a female wasp could hitch a ride on an aircraft. After establishing in New Zealand, P. froggatti spread rapidly, making use of widely planted populations of Moreton Bay figs. [3] The arrival of the wasp led to prolific production of fruits containing many small seeds adapted for dispersal by birds.

Related Research Articles

<i>Ficus macrophylla</i> Species of banyan tree

Ficus macrophylla, commonly known as the Moreton Bay fig or Australian banyan, is a large evergreen banyan tree of the family Moraceae native to eastern Australia, from the Wide Bay–Burnett region in the north to the Illawarra in New South Wales, as well as Lord Howe Island. Its common name is derived from Moreton Bay in Queensland, Australia. It is best known for its imposing buttress roots.

<i>Ficus rubiginosa</i> a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceaea native to eastern Australia

Ficus rubiginosa, the rusty fig or Port Jackson fig, is a species of flowering plant native to eastern Australia in the genus Ficus. Beginning as a seedling that grows on other plants (hemiepiphyte) or rocks (lithophyte), F. rubiginosa matures into a tree 30 m (100 ft) high and nearly as wide with a yellow-brown buttressed trunk. The leaves are oval and glossy green and measure from 4 to 19.3 cm long and 1.25 to 13.2 cm wide.

<i>Ficus americana</i> Species of fig tree native to the Neotropics

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.

<i>Ficus pleurocarpa</i>

Ficus pleurocarpa, commonly known as the banana fig, karpe fig or gabi fig, is a fig that is endemic to the wet tropical rainforests of northeastern Queensland, Australia. It has characteristic ribbed orange and red cylindrical syconia. It begins life as a hemiepiphyte, later becoming a tree up to 25 m (82 ft) tall. F. pleurocarpa is one of the few figs known to be pollinated by more than one species of fig wasp.

<i>Ficus watkinsiana</i>

Ficus watkinsiana, commonly known as strangler fig, Watkins' fig, nipple fig or the green-leaved Moreton Bay fig is a hemiepiphytic fig that is endemic to Australia. The species exists in three populations—one in northeast Queensland and the others in southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales. It also has been introduced to Kauai island (Hawaiʻi).

<i>Pleistodontes</i> Genus of wasps

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.

Pleistodontes deuterus is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus pleurocarpa, the fig species it pollinates.

Pleistodontes regalis is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus pleurocarpa, the fig species it pollinates.

Pleistodontes nitens is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus crassipes, the fig species it pollinates.

Pleistodontes nigriventris is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus watkinsiana, the fig species it pollinates.

Pleistodontes addicotti is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus crassipes, the fig species it pollinates.

Pleistodontes schizodontus is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus triradiata, the fig species it pollinates.

Pleistodontes rigisamos is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus destruens, the fig species it pollinates.

Pleistodontes cuneatus is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus platypoda, the fig species it pollinates.

Pleistodontes proximus is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus lilliputiana, the fig species it pollinates.

Pleistodontes astrabocheilus is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus subpuberula, the fig species it pollinates.

<i>Pleistodontes imperialis</i> Species of wasp

Pleistodontes imperialis is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus rubiginosa, the fig species it pollinates. It is the type species of the genus Pleistodontes

Pleistodontes xanthocephalus is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus obliqua, the fig species it pollinates.

Pleistodontes greenwoodi is a species of fig wasp which is native to Australia. It has an obligate mutualism with Ficus obliqua, the fig species it pollinates.

Schistonchus is a genus of plant-parasitic nematodes in the family Aphelenchoididae.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos; Dixon, Dale J.; Cook, James M.; Rasplus, Jean-Yves (2002). "Revision of the Australian species of Pleistodontes (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae) fig-pollinating wasps and their host-plant associations". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 136 (4): 637–83. doi: 10.1046/j.1096-3642.2002.00040.x . Archived from the original on 2011-08-13.
  2. 1 2 Starr F, Starr K, and Loope L. Ficus macrophylla - Moreton bay fig - Moraceae United States Geological Survey--Biological Resources Division Haleakala Field Station, Maui, Hawai'i, 2003.
  3. 1 2 3 Gardner, Rhys O.; John W. Early (1996). "The naturalisation of banyan figs (Ficus spp., Moraceae) and their pollinating wasps (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae) in New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 34: 103–10. doi:10.1080/0028825x.1996.10412697. Archived from the original on 2008-07-19.
  4. 1 2 Evenhuis, N. L.; L. G. Eldredge (2000). "Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1999: Part 2: Notes" (PDF). Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 64: 1–63.
  5. Beardsley, John W.; William D. Perriera (2000). "New Distribution Records for Non-Endemic Hymenoptera (Insecta) in Hawaiʻi" (PDF). Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 63: 21–30.
  6. Beardsley, John W. (1999). "Hymenoptera from Midway Atoll" (PDF). Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 58: 37–50.