Editing Fig wasp (section)

==Morphological adaptations==
[[File:Blastophaga psenes2.png|thumb|upright=1.3<!--width for very low image-->|Female (left, with long ovipositor) and male ''[[Blastophaga psenes]]'']]

In the Agaonidae, the female (as in most Hymenoptera) has four wings, whereas the males are wingless. The primary functions of agaonid males are to mate with the females while still within the fig [[syconium]] (inverted flower) and to chew a hole for the females to escape from the fig interior. This is the reverse of sex-linked functions in [[Strepsiptera]] and [[bagworm]]s, where the male has wings and the female never leaves the host.

The non-pollinating fig wasps have developed several impressive morphological adaptations in order to oviposit eggs within the fig syconium. Many species have extremely long [[ovipositors]], so that they can deposit eggs from the outside of the [[syconium]] (Subtribe Sycoryctina of [[Pteromalinae|Otitesellini]]<ref name=figwebSycoryctina2024>van Noort, S. & Rasplus, JY. 2024. [https://www.figweb.org/Fig_wasps/Pteromalidae/Pteromalinae/Otitesellini/Sycoryctina/index.htm Sycoryctina]. www.figweb.org (Accessed on 19 Dec 2024)</ref> and Subfamily [[Pteromalidae#Sycophaginae|Sycophaginae]]<ref name=figwebSycophaginae2024>van Noort, S. & Rasplus, JY. 2024. [https://www.figweb.org/Fig_wasps/Pteromalidae/Sycophaginae/index.htm Sycophaginae]. www.figweb.org (Accessed on 19 Dec 2024)</ref>). Others have evolved to enter the syconium in the same way as the Agaonidae, and now resemble the pollinators morphologically (Subtribe Sycoecina of [[Pteromalinae|Otitesellini]]).<ref name=figwebSycoecina2024>van Noort, S. & Rasplus, JY. 2024. [https://www.figweb.org/Fig_wasps/Pteromalidae/Pteromalinae/Otitesellini/Sycoecina/index.htm Sycoecina]. www.figweb.org (Accessed on 19 Dec 2024)</ref> Less is known about the evolution of non-pollinating fig wasps who form different clades from various lineages, each independently colonized the syconium.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Cook |first=James M. |last2=Segar |first2=Simon T. |date=January 2010 |title=Speciation in fig wasps |url=https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2311.2009.01148.x |journal=Ecological Entomology |volume=35 |issue=s1 |pages=54–66 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2311.2009.01148.x |issn=0307-6946}}</ref> These wasps work around the mutualistic relationship, exploiting fig fruits as parasitoids.<ref name=":0" />

Most figs (more than 600 species) have syconia that contain three types of [[flower]]s: male, short female, and long female. Female fig wasps can reach the ovaries of short female flowers with their ovipositors, but not long female flowers. Thus, the short female flowers grow wasps, and the long flowers only seeds. Contrary to popular belief, ripe figs are not full of dead wasps and the "crunchy bits" in the fruit are only seeds. The fig actually produces an enzyme called [[ficain]] (also known as ficin) which digests the dead wasps and the fig absorbs the nutrients to create the ripe fruits and seeds.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://askabiologist.asu.edu/figs-without-wasps | title=Figs Without Wasps?| date=2012-10-11}}</ref>  Several commercial and ornamental varieties of fig are [[parthenocarpic]] and do not require pollination to produce (sterile) fruits; these varieties need not be visited by fig wasps to bear fruit.<ref>Roy, D. (2019). Tropical/subtropical fruit crops: Fig. In ''Breeding of fruit crops'' (pp. 113-115). Alpha Science International Ltd.</ref>