An extreme case of plant-insect codiversification: figs and fig-pollinating wasps.

ABSTRACT: It is thought that speciation in phytophagous insects is often due to colonization of novel host plants, because radiations of plant and insect lineages are typically asynchronous. Recent phylogenetic comparisons have supported this model of diversification for both insect herbivores and specialized pollinators. An exceptional case where contemporaneous plant-insect diversification might be expected is the obligate mutualism between fig trees (Ficus species, Moraceae) and their pollinating wasps (Agaonidae, Hymenoptera). The ubiquity and ecological significance of this mutualism in tropical and subtropical ecosystems has long intrigued biologists, but the systematic challenge posed by >750 interacting species pairs has hindered progress toward understanding its evolutionary history. In par

SUBMITTER: Cruaud A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3478567 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature