''Pleistodontes froggatti'' is a species of

fig wasp Fig wasps are wasps of the superfamily Chalcidoidea which spend their larval stage inside fig syconia. Some are pollinators but others simply feed off the plant. The non-pollinators belong to several groups within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, ...

which is native to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It has an

obligate {{wiktionary, obligate As an adjective, obligate means "by necessity" (antonym '' facultative'') and is used mainly in biology in phrases such as: * Obligate aerobe, an organism that cannot survive without oxygen * Obligate anaerobe, an organism ...

mutualism with the Moreton Bay Fig, ''

Ficus macrophylla ''Ficus macrophylla'', commonly known as the Moreton Bay fig or Australian banyan, is a large evergreen banyan tree of the mulberry and fig family Moraceae. It is native to eastern Australia, from the Wide Bay–Burnett region of Queensland i ...

'', the species it pollinates. Outside Australia, populations have become established in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

(where it was deliberately introduced)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. and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

where it was either accidentally introduced or arrived by long-distance dispersal.

Description

''Pleistodontes froggatti'' is a small wasp. Females are long with black, brown and reddish brown bodies. Males are in length, with yellow and orange bodies.

Taxonomy

The specific epithet, ''froggatti'', is in honour of

n entomologist W. W. Froggatt. The first account of the species' biology was written by Froggatt in 1901, who imperfectly identified it as ''

Pleistodontes imperialis ''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 In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclat ...

''.

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

entomologist

Gustav Mayr Gustav L. Mayr (12 October 1830 – 14 July 1908) was an Austrian Entomology, entomologist and professor in Budapest and Vienna. He specialised in Hymenoptera, being particularly known for his studies of ants.mutualism with

s, (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 Syconium (: syconia) is the type of fruit borne by figs (genus ''Ficus''), formed by an enlarged, fleshy, hollow receptacle with multiple ovaries on the inside surface. In essence, it is really a fleshy stem with a number of flowers, so it is co ...

of its host species, the Moreton Bay Fig, ''Ficus macrophylla''.

Distribution

''Ficus macrophylla'' is native to southeast

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, eastern

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...

, and has been planted widely across the world. ''Pleistodontes froggatti'' has been found across most of the range of its host tree in Australia. It also occurs in New Zealand and Hawaii. The Maui Pineapple Company introduced ''F. macrophylla'' to its lands in the 1920s. ''P. froggatti'' was introduced to Hawaii in 1921 and has been recorded from the islands of

, Lānai,

Kauai Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

and

Molokai Molokai or Molokai ( or ; Molokaʻi dialect: Morotaʻi ) is the fifth most populated of the eight major islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is 38 by 10 miles (61 by 16 km) at its g ...

. It is also presumed present on

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

, given that ''F. macrophylla'' is naturalised on the island. It has also been collected in the

Midway Atoll Midway Atoll (colloquialism, colloquial: Midway Islands; ; ) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the United States and is an Insular area#Unorganized unincorporated territories, unorganized and unincorpo ...

. ''Pleistodontes froggatti'' was first recorded in New Zealand in 1993, a 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. The arrival of the wasp led to prolific production of fruits containing many small seeds adapted for dispersal by birds.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3906633 Agaonidae Hymenoptera of Australia Insects of Hawaii Hymenoptera of New Zealand Taxa named by Gustav Mayr Insects described in 1906