Fresh figs are irresistible from late summer through early fall, when trees droop from the weight of these luscious, caramelly fruits. Nothing stands between fig lovers and this bounty, except … wasps ...

ITHACA, N.Y. – Figs and fig wasps have evolved to help each other out: Fig wasps lay their eggs inside the fruit where the wasp larvae can safely develop, and in return, the wasps pollinate the figs.

Researchers from Uppsala University and elsewhere have been studying the effect of rising temperatures on the lifespan of pollinating fig wasps. The findings show that the wasps lived much shorter ...

The life of the fig wasp is nature at its worst—from our human perspective, anyway. In order to lay their eggs, female fig wasps have to squeeze into the flowering body of a fig, losing their wings ...

The fig wasp pollination mutualism is a quintessential example of an obligate ecological interaction, wherein minute pollinator wasps and their Ficus hosts engage in an intricate and enduring ...

An example of "fallen fig fauna": a beetle larvae which feeds on the fig from the inside, then migrate to the soil when the ripe fruit falls to the ground. Credit: Luciano Palmieri An example of ...

Jaco Greeff received funding from the National Research Foundation to study sex ratios. Jan Willem Helenus Ferguson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or ...

Contrary to prevailing wisdom concerning one of the most famous textbook examples of a tightly co-evolved mutualism, not every fig species is pollinated by its own unique wasp species. In this week's ...