Study on Pollination Ecology of Fig Wasp (Ceratosolen sp.) in the Tropical Rainforest of Xishuangbanna,China

The Ficus racemosa L.(1753) is a keystone plant species in the tropical rai nforest in Xishuangbanna.The fig tree (Ficus racemosa) and figpollination wasp (Ceratosolen sp.) are highly coevolved species that depend completely on mutual benefit for continued reproduction.The main result of this study indi cated that the earlier emerged male wasp cut the exit holes both from the gall and fig fruit for the female,which dont have the ability to cut the exit hole for themselves.In Ficus racemosa pollen tends not to escape from the anthers after dehiscence until the stamens are disturbed by the fig wasp.The females opened the anthers with the antennal scapes,mandible,leg and collected the pollen.The pollen-bored females fly about 5-80 minutes to find the recep tive syconiaAs soon as a pollinating fig wasp reached the interior of the youn g fig fruit to be pollinated,it pushed its head among the stigmas for 4-9 hours ,then oviposited in the short stigmas (gall flowers) of the fig.