Fig wasps, some of which pollinate fig trees, are famous for their quantifiable sex ratio biases that closely match Local Mate Competition predictions. Other fig wasp species that parasitize this co-evolving mutualism are famous for the extreme male dimorphic forms and fatal fighting they exhibit.
My PhD thesis research, with Dr. Jaco M. Greeff focused on game theoretical modeling to understand the ultimate mechanisms underlying extreme male dimorphic forms in non-pollinating fig wasps. The data to test these modeling predictions come from various non pollinating fig wasp species in Southern Africa. The Otitesella sp. (image shows male forms on the left and the female on the right of O. pseudoserrata) are particularly interesting, where the large morph male (known as the Religiosa morph) use their oversized mandibles to decapitate conspecific males whilst competing for mating opportunities. The smaller male morph (shown left) disperses out of the fig, and uses the swollen black sack like structures on its feet to attract presumably unmated females for mating outside of the fig syconium.
Supported by a University of Pretoria PhD bursary, a National Research Foundation (South Africa) PhD bursary and a University of Alabama CARSCA small grant
Relevant Publications
Chung, N. , Pienaar, J. and Greeff, J. M. (2019), Evolutionary stable sex ratios with non‐facultative male‐eggs first sex allocation in fig wasps. Oikos, 128: 859-868. doi:10.1111/oik.06068
Pienaar, J. & Greeff, J. M. (2006) Adaptive non-Fisherian sex ratios in a patchily distributed population with outbreeding. Evolutionary Ecology 20: 431-445.
Moore, J. C., Pienaar, J. & Greeff, J. M. (2004) Male morphological variation and the determinants of body size in two Otitesella fig wasps. Behavioral Ecology 15 735-741.
Pienaar, J. & Greeff, J. M. (2003) Maternal control of offspring sex and male morphology in the Otitesella fig wasps. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 16: 244-253.
Pienaar, J. & Greeff, J. M. (2003) Different male morphs of Otitesella fig wasps have equal fitness but are not determined by different alleles. Ecology Letters 6: 286-289.
Comments