NCSE-Table-1_lg.gif (GIF Image, 600x768 pixels) - Scaled (83%) Humansanddinos_tr2_png_800x1000_q100.png (PNG Image, 800x570 pixels) Swimbots. Biology Project - site map. Figs kill when wasps don't pollinate. A female fig wasp (Tetrapus americanus) is about to enter a flowering fig (Ficus maxima). Once inside, the fig wasp will pollinate and lay her eggs in the flowers that line the inside of the fig. Figs and fig wasps have evolved to help each other out: Fig wasps lay their eggs inside the fruit where the wasp larvae can safely develop, and in return, the wasps pollinate the figs.
But what happens when a wasp lays its eggs but fails to pollinate the fig? The trees get even by dropping those figs to the ground, killing the baby wasps inside, reports a Cornell and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (published online Jan. 13). The findings suggest that when one species in a mutually beneficial relationship fails to hold up its end of the bargain, sanctions may be a necessary part of maintaining the relationship. The study was supported by the Cornell Graduate School and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Evolushark.