''Blastophaga'' is a genus of wasps in the family
Agaonidae
The family Agaonidae is a group of pollinating fig wasps. They spend their larval stage inside the fruits of Ficus, figs. The pollinating wasps (Agaoninae, Kradibiinae, and Tetrapusiinae) are the mutualism (biology), mutualistic partners of the ...
(fig wasps) which
pollinate figs or are otherwise associated with figs, a
coevolution
In biology, coevolution occurs when two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection. The term sometimes is used for two traits in the same species affecting each other's evolution, as well a ...
al relationship that has been developing for at least 80 million years. Pollinating fig wasps are specific to specific figs. The common fig ''
Ficus carica
The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, together with western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and is ...
'' is pollinated by ''
Blastophaga psenes''.
The common figs contain no gall flowers for the reception of wasp eggs, and the Blastophaga female moves from flower to flower, incidentally fertilizing them, but is prevented from depositing her eggs. Worn out, the wasp perishes. Any eggs she may have dropped also perish.
References
* Proctor, M., Yeo, P. & Lack, A. (1996). ''The Natural History of Pollination''. Timber Press, Portland, OR.
External links
The Fig Web. ''Blastophaga''
Agaonidae
Hymenoptera genera
Taxa named by Johann Ludwig Christian Gravenhorst
Insects described in 1829
{{Chalcidoidea-stub