Fig gall wasp

Fig gall wasp
Fig gall wasp ( Blastophaga psenes )
Systematics
Subclass : Flying insects (Pterygota) Superordinate : New winged wing (Neoptera) Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera) Family : Fig wasps (Agaonidae) Genre : Blastophaga Type : Fig gall wasp
Scientific name
Blastophaga psenes
L.

The fig gall wasp ( Blastophaga psenes ) is a gall wasp about 2 mm in size that plays an important role in the fertilization of the common fig ( Ficus carica ). However, there are also many fig varieties that develop edible fruits without fertilization by the fig gall wasp , including all fig varieties grown in Germany , since the fig gall wasp does not occur in Germany.

The fig gall wasp specializes in the edible, cultivated fig species Ficus carica , as well as the closely related species Punjab fig ( Ficus palmata ).

The female fig gall wasp, attracted by a characteristic smell, crawls through the small hole at the top of the fig, the ostiolum, into the fruit and lays her eggs using a laying tube that is almost two millimeters long. Some of inflorescences inside the fig have pen a length of three millimeters, these are the actual figs (Italian: fichi ), others by two millimeters, these are the Gallfeigen (Italian: mamme ).

If the wasp encounters a flower that has long styluses, the laying tube is not long enough to lay the egg, so these fruits are only pollinated. However, if the style is short, the female fig gall wasp not only pollinates the fruit, but also lays its eggs in the flower. The larvae in the gall fig then feed on the developing seed, grow and become a finished insect (imago) in the seed .

Winged female and wingless male

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Christoph Seiler: Figs from your own garden. Stuttgart 2016, pp. 16-19.