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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, while the pollinators are in the family Agaonidae. Pollinating fig wasps are all gall-makers, while non-pollinating fig wasps either make their own galls or usurp the galls of other fig wasps. The lifestyles of these fig wasps rely on the fruit of fig trees to reproduce, with pollinating fig wasps acting as mutualists, and non-pollinating fig wasps as parasitoids. History Aristotle recorded in his '' History of Animals'' that the fruits of the wild fig (the caprifig) contain ''psenes'' (fig wasps); these begin life as grubs (larvae), and the adult ''psen'' splits its "skin" (pupa) and flies out of the fig to find and enter a cultivated fig, saving it from dropping. He believed that the ''psen'' was generated spontaneously; he did no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wasp
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey. The most commonly known wasps, such as yellowjackets and hornets, are in the family Vespidae and are eusocial, living together in a nest with an egg-laying queen and non-reproducing workers. Eusociality is favoured by the unusual haplodiploid system of sex determination in Hymenoptera, as it makes sisters exceptionally closely related to each other. However, the majority of wasp species are solitary, with each adult female living and breeding independently. Females typically have an oviposit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blastophaga Psenes
''Blastophaga psenes'' is a wasp species in the genus '' Blastophaga''. It pollinates the common fig ''Ficus carica'' and the closely related '' Ficus palmata''. These wasps breed in figs without the need for a colony or nest, and the adults live for only a few days or weeks. They locate the fig they wish to pollinate primarily using through olfaction. Taxonomy and phylogenetics Mutualism occurs between figs and fig wasps, which creates a need for specific species of figs to be pollinated by specific species of wasps. The origin of mutualism is also the beginning of the fig wasp phylogeny. In the phylogenetic tree, the genus of '' Blastophaga'' and '' Wiebesia'' are very similar. Both of these genera pollinate ''Ficus'' genus of figs. Description and identification ''B. psenes'' are small wasps, approximately only in length. The females are black and shiny, while the males are smaller than the females. The males are wingless, whereas females have wings that are transpar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ficain
Ficain also known as ficin, debricin, or higueroxyl delabarre () is a proteolytic enzyme extracted from the latex sap from the stems, leaves, and unripe fruit of the American wild fig tree ''Ficus insipida''. Ficain was originally called ficin, and ficin was originally a mixture of closely related cysteine endopeptidases produced from any species of the genus ''Ficus'', before the terminology was restricted to a specific cysteine endopeptidase enzyme from a specific species. Cysteine endopeptidases are a group of enzymes that also include the more distantly related papain derived from papaya latex, bromelase (bromelain) extracted from pineapple stem, calpain, caspases, cathepsin B, and chymopapain. Cysteine endopeptidases with similar properties known generically as ficins are present in other members of the genus ''Ficus'', and many species appear to contain multiple types of these enzymes. Somewhat confusingly, the terms ficain and ficin are often treated as synonyms. Ficai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flower
Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, modified leaves; corolla, the petals; androecium, the male reproductive unit consisting of stamens and pollen; and gynoecium, the female part, containing style and stigma, which receives the pollen at the tip of the style, and ovary, which contains the ovules. When flowers are arranged in groups, they are known collectively as inflorescences. Floral growth originates at stem tips and is controlled by MADS-box genes. In most plant species flowers are heterosporous, and so can produce sex cells of both sexes. Pollination mediates the transport of pollen to the ovules in the ovaries, to facilitate sexual reproduction. It can occur between different plants, as in cross-pollination, or between flowers on the same plant or even the same f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pteromalinae
Pteromalinae is a parasitoid wasp subfamily in the family Pteromalidae. Genera *Otitesellini: ''Adiyodiella'', ''Apocrypta'', ''Arachonia'', ''Bouceka'', ''Comptoniella'', ''Crossogaster'', ''Diaziella'', ''Dobunabaa'', ''Eujacobsonia'', ''Grandiana'', ''Grasseiana'', ''Guadalia'', ''Lipothymus'', ''Marginalia'', ''Micranisa'', ''Micrognathophora'', ''Otitesella'', ''Philosycella'', ''Philosycus'', ''Philoverdance'', ''Philotrypesis'', '' Robertsia'', '' Seres'', ''Sycoecus'', ''Sycoryctes'', '' Sycoscapter'', ''Walkerella'', ''Watshamiella'' *Pteromalini: '' Ablaxia'', ''Abomalus'', ''Acaenacis'', ''Acroclisella'', ''Acroclisissa'', ''Acroclypa'', ''Acrocormus'', ''Aepocerus'', ''Afropsilocera'', ''Aggelma'', ''Agiommatus'', ''Aiemea'', ''Allocricellius'', ''Alticornis'', ''Amandia'', ''Amblypachus'', ''Amphidocius'', ''Angulifrons'', ''Anisopteromalus'', ''Ankaratrella'', ''Anogmoides'', ''Anogmus'', ''Anorbanus'', ''Apelioma'', ''Apsilocera'', ''Apycnetron'', ''Arachnopterom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ovipositors
The ovipositor is a tube-like organ (anatomy), organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of Egg (biology), 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 parasite, parasitic species (primarily in wasps and other Hymenoptera), it is a piercing organ as well. Some ovipositors only retract partly when not in use, and the basal (anatomy), basal part that sticks out is known as the scape, or more specifically oviscape, the word ''scape'' deriving from the Latin word , meaning "stalk" or "shaft". In insects Grasshoppers use their ovipositors to force a burrow into the earth to receive the eggs. Cicadas pierce the wood of twigs with their oviposit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bagworm
The Psychidae (bagworm moths, also simply bagworms or bagmoths) are a family of the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). The bagworm family is fairly small, with about 1,350 species described. Bagworm species are found globally, with some, such as the snailcase bagworm (''Apterona helicoidella''), in modern times settling continents where they are not native. Another common name for the Psychidae is "case moths", but this is just as well used for the case-bearers (Coleophoridae). The names refer to the habits of caterpillars of these two families, which build small protective cases in which they can hide. The bagworms belong to the superfamily Tineoidea, which is a basal lineage of the Ditrysia (as is Gelechioidea, which includes case-bearers). This means that the bagworms and case-bearers are only as closely related to each other as either is to butterflies (Rhopalocera). Most bagworms are inoffensive to humans and inconspicuous; some are occasional nuisance pests. Howeve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strepsiptera
The Strepsiptera () are an order of insects with eleven extant families that include about 600 described species. They are endoparasites of other insects, such as bees, wasps, leafhoppers, Zygentoma, silverfish, and cockroaches. Females of most species never emerge from the host after entering its body, finally dying inside it. The early-stage larvae do emerge because they must find an unoccupied living host, and the short-lived males must emerge to seek a receptive female in her host. They are believed to be most closely related to beetles, from which they diverged 300–350 million years ago, but do not appear in the fossil record until the mid-Cretaceous around 100 million years ago. The order is not well known to non-specialists, and the nearest they have to a common name is stylops, in reference to the genus ''Stylops''. The name of the order translates to "twisted wing", giving rise to other common names used for the order, twisted-wing insects and twisted-winged p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syconium
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 considered both a multiple and accessory fruit. Etymology The term ''syconium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word ''sykon'', meaning "fig". Morphology The syconium is an urn-shaped receptacle which contains between 50 and 7000 (depending on the species) highly simplified uniovulate flowers or florets on its inner surface. It is closed off from most organisms by the ostiole, fringed by scale-like bracts. Syconia can be monoecious or functionally dioecious: the former contain female flowers with variable style length and few male flowers, and produce seeds and pollen. The latter have male and female forms in different plants: seed figs contain female flowers with long styles and produce seeds; gall figs contain female flowers with short ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blastophaga Psenes2
''Blastophaga'' is a genus of wasps in the family Agaonidae (fig wasps) which pollinate figs or are otherwise associated with figs, a coevolutional relationship that has been developing for at least 80 million years. Pollinating fig wasps are specific to specific figs. The common fig ''Ficus carica'' is pollinated by ''Blastophaga psenes ''Blastophaga psenes'' is a wasp species in the genus '' Blastophaga''. It pollinates the common fig ''Ficus carica'' and the closely related '' Ficus palmata''. These wasps breed in figs without the need for a colony or nest, and the adults l ...''. 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, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torymidae
Torymidae is a family of wasps in the superfamily Chalcidoidea. Most species in this family are small with attractive metallic coloration, and females generally have long ovipositors. Many are parasitoids on gall-forming insects, and some are phytophagous (plant-eating) species, sometimes using the galls formed by other insects. Over 960 species in about 70 genera are found worldwide. They are best recognized in that they are one of the few groups of Chalcidoidea Chalcid wasps (, , for their metallic colour) 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, m ... in which the cerci are visible. Systematics The family was first described by English entomologist Francis Walker in 1833 and the infrafamiliar classification has been revised several times. A number of subfamilies were created within Torymidae, some of which have since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pteromalidae
The Pteromalidae are a large family of wasps, the majority being parasitoids of other insects. They are found throughout the world in virtually all habitats, and many are important as biological control agents. The oldest known fossil is known from the Early Cretaceous. Prior to 2022, the subfamily-level divisions of the family were highly contentious and unstable, and the family was thought to be "artificial", composed of numerous, distantly related groups (polyphyletic). In essence, a "pteromalid" was any member of the Chalcidoidea that had five-segmented tarsi and did not have the defining features of any of the remaining families with five-segmented tarsi. In 2022, the Pteromalidae was split into 24 families. Description Pteromalidae are usually metallic chalcidoids of varying body size (from 1–48 mm long) and build (slender to quite robust), with the tarsi of the fore and hind legs consisting of five segments. They carry antennae consisting of eight to thirteen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
