Ficus Bernaysii

A tree in the Moraceae family, ''Ficus bernaysii'' is found from New Guinea to the Solomon Islands, growing in lowland rainforest. It is dioecious, and grows cauliflorous fruit. It is fed on by a wide range of animals.

Taxonomy

This species is in the section ''Sycocarpus'' of the dioecious fig subgenus ''Sycomorus''.

The species was described by the Scottish botanist George King (1840-1909), who worked in India from 1866 to 1898.
He was important in the cultivation of ''Cinchona'' and in distributing quinine. The formal description of ''F. bernaysii'' is held to be in the periodical ''Journal of The Asiatic Society of Bengal (Part 2: Natural History)'' in 1887. In his 1886/7 publication ''On Some New Species of Ficus from New Guinea'', he states that the species is named after Mr. L. Bernays, of Brisbane, "whose efforts for the exploration of New Guinea, and for the development of his own colony of Queensland are so well-known." See Lewis Adolphus Bernays (1831-1908), public servant, for comparison.

Description

This fig is a tree growing up to 15m tall. The leaves range from (sub)distichous to supopposite. The white to brown stipules are 0.5 to 2 cm long. The tree has abundant cauliflorous fruit growing the length of the trunk.

Distribution

The species is native to the north of the Australian continent and in adjacent islands in the Southwest Pacific. It occurs in the following countries and regions: Indonesia ( West Papua; Papua Niugini (Eastern New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago; and the Solomon Islands.

Habitat and ecology

The tree often occurs in secondary regrowth patches in high densities, but also occurs in primary forest.

In the primary and old secondary forest amongst the lowland rainforest near Baitabag, Ohu and Mis villages, Madang Province, PNG., the most frequent trees were ''Macaranga novoguineensis'', ''Pimelodendron amboinicum'', ''Ficus bernaysii'', ''Ficus phaeosyce'' and ''Ficus wassa''.

The taxa is a source of food for ''Dobsonia minor'' ( lesser bare-backed fruit bat) and is parasitized by the wasps '' Apocrypta meromassa'' Ulenberg 1985, and '' Ceratosolenm hooglandi''

''Ficus'' species have a specialised pollination system involving wasps of the Agaonidae family. In the Madang province of PNG the main pollinator is the ''Ceratosolen hooglandii'' wasp.
This species of wasp also pollinates '' Ficus hahliana''. Two other ''Ceratosolen'' species were observed pollinating ''F. bernaysii'', though both species tended to concentrate other separate species of ''Ficus'', '' Ceratosolen dentifer'' (who preferred ''Ficus hispida'' and ''Ceratosolen'' sp. ex ''Ficus morobensis'' (which mainly pollinated '' Ficus morobensis''). The concentration by wasp pollinators on separate species might explain the high rates of speciation in the closely related sections, subgenera and genus of ''Ficus''.

In the Madang area, the tree is a hotspot for the fruit bat ''Syconycteris australis'' (common blossom bat) which tends to feed on the fruit of this tree and those of ''Piper aduncum''.

The caterpillars of the generalist moth ''Homona mermerodes'' feed on the leaves of ''F. bernaysii'', though they favour many other taxa.

The moths '' Talanga sexpunctalis'' complex and '' Glyphodes margaritaria'' feed on the tree among other ''Ficus'' species, these are both parasitised by the wasp '' Colastomion masalaii'', which frequents ''F. bernaysii''.

A range of Chrysomelid beetles, from generalist to specialist to rare feeders, are associated with the plant.

Various guilds of herbivourous insects have been observed eating this taxa, including adult leaf-chewers, fruit-chewers, larval leaf-chewers, leaf-miners, phloem-suckers and xylem-suckers.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15472047

bernaysii
Flora of New Guinea
Flora of the Bismarck Archipelago
Flora of the Solomon Islands (archipelago)
Plants described in 1887
Taxa named by George King (botanist)
Dioecious plants