The Behavior and Morphology of the Fig Wasps Pegoscapus Assuetus and P. Jimenezi:Descriptions and Suggested Behavioral Characters for Phylogenetic Studies

Figs (Ficus spp., Moraceae) and their pollinator wasps (Agaonidae) are the most intricately coevolved of the plant-insect mutualisms. The necessity of the tiny wasps for good fruit set in cultivated figs [Ficus carica (L.)] was recognized over two thousand years ago by Aristotle and his pupil Theophrastus, and the details of pollination in this species were understood by the early part of this century (Condit 1947). It was only fifteen years ago, however, that the tremendous diversity in pollination mechanisms among the approximately 900 species of figs began to be appreciated (Ramirez 1969; Galil and Eisikowitch 1969; Chopra and Kaur 1969). It is generally accepted that each fig species is pollinated by a unique species of fig wasp (Ramirez 1970a; Wiebes 1979). There is much variability in fig inflorescence morphology, which is associated (by host specificity) with variability in fig wasp morphology (Ramirez 1974) and behavior (Galil and Meiri 1981). Although general trends in the mechanism of pollination across subtaxa of Ficus and Agaonidae can be inferred from fig inflorescence and fig wasp morphology (Ramirez 1974), the actual details of both pollen collecting and pollination by the wasps have only been studied in a few species. Among the monoecious figs, Galil and Snitzer-Pasternak (1970) studied the pollination of Ficus religiosa (L.) by the fig wasp Blastophaga quadraticeps (Mayr); Galil and Eisikowitch (1969, 1974) studied F. sycomorus (L.) and its pollinator Ceratosolen arabicus (Mayr); Joseph and Abdurahiman (1981) described pollination of F. race-