Does every fig contain a wasp?
Figs are are inverted flowers, producing a scent that allures female wasps for pollination
Here you can see one force through a small opening called the ostiole, inside she deposits her eggs & also pollen 1/🧵
full video bit.ly/3FtYKi2
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Once hatched the males who lack wings wont survive outside the fig
Their role is to impregnate the female wasps and dig tunnels for these females to escape the fig
that escape is what you see here 2/🧵
Full video bit.ly/3FssOup
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As each pregnant female seeks her way out, she passes by many male flowers and emerges covered with pollen.
she flies off to find to find an other fig to pollinate and deposit another generation of fig wasps, who in their brief life of a day or two will repeat the cycle 3/🧵
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4/🧵 There are 900 species of fig wasps and 900 species of figs
Each species of wasp pollinates only one species of fig, each fig will produce a scent that attracts its own partner wasp
Neither wasp nor fig can exist without each other bit.ly/3MZOwIB
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5/ 🧵 recent studies into host specificity show that a species of fig may be pollinated by more than one species of wasp, Although usually with a prominent pollinator
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6/🧵 just to add, commercial varieties you find at your local shops are generally cultivated without pollination, grown from cuttings or even been bred to be parthenocarpic, reproducing asexually, without any pollen transfer . bit.ly/3yqy2W8
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Amazing, what a detailed info you have given! So many facts about nature which we aren't aware of. Your tweets are really interesting to read.
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I eat these off the tree in Portugal. Wasp or no wasp is still delicious.
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