View article

Figs (Ficus) and fig-pollination wasps (Agaonidae) are highly coevolved mutualists that depend completely on each other for continued reproduction. However, their reproductive interests are not identical.

The natural history of their interaction often permits the direct measurement of total lifetime reproductive success of the wasp and of major components of reproductive success for the fig.

Data from 12 monoecious species of New World figs (subgenusUrostigma) and their wasp pollinators (Pegoscapus spp.) indicate that fig fruit size (number of flowers per fruit), wasp size, and the number of foundresses that pollinate and lay eggs in any given fruit interact in complex but systematic ways to affect the …