Allen Herre_staff scientist_Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (IMAGE)
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Allen Herre, Staff Scientist, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, is fascinated by the evolution of the mutually beneficial relationships between many different fig species and their wasp pollinators. This paper reports the observation of a “cheater” wasp that lays its eggs on fig flowers but does not pollinate them. In all of the other fig/fig wasp pairs studied to date, unpollinated figs are usually dropped by the tree killing the wasp’s offspring, a sanction, or punishment, that Herre says is important for maintaining the mutualism. But, in the case of a fig species from Yunnan, China, Ficus microcarpa, the fig tree does not “punish” the non-pollinator wasp by dropping the fruit.
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Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
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