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The
female wasp then proceeds to pollinate the tiny simple flowers
inside the fig and to lay eggs in the flower ovules. She does this
by inserting her long ovipositor down the inside of the style. The
flowers that have styles longer than the wasp’s ovipositor are
pollinated, but no eggs are laid in the ovule so these form fig
seeds. The ovules that do have eggs laid in them form galls in which
the wasp larvae develop, feeding on the galled plant tissue.
Photograph and illustration © Simon van
Noort |
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