Agaonidae
| Fig wasps | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Blastophaga psenes | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Suborder: | Apocrita |
| Superfamily: | Chalcidoidea |
| Family: |
Agaonidae Walker, 1848 |
| Subfamilies | |
Agaoninae
Kradibiinae
Sycophaginae
Tetrapusiinae
The family Agaonidae is a group of pollinating and nonpollinating fig wasps. They spend their larval stage inside the fruits of figs. The pollinating wasps (Agaoninae, Kradibiinae, and Tetrapusiinae) are the mutualistic partners of the fig trees. The nonpollinating fig wasps are parasitic.
The family has changed several times since its taxonomic appearance after the work of Francis Walker in 1846 described from the wasp genus Agaon. For long the subfamilies Epichrysomallinae, Otitesellinae, Sycoecinae, Sycoryctinae, Sycophaginae, and Agaoninae were the subdivisions of the family. Recent works building strong molecular phylogenies with an extended sampling size have changed the composition of Agaonidae. First, the paraphyletic groups have been excluded (Epichrysomallinae, Otitesellinae, Sycoecinae, and Sycoryctinae) and new subfamilies have been instated (Kradibiinae and Tetrapusiinae). Then the subfamily Sycophaginae have been placed within the Agaonidae family. Within the Sycophaginae, some changes were made after the molecular phylogeny of the subfamily: the genus Apocryptophagus has been synonymined under the genus Sycophaga.
Wasps from the three subfamilies Agaoninae, Kradibiinae and Tetrapusiinae are pollinating fig wasps. On the other hand, Sycophaginae are parasites of the Ficus, developing in the fruits after other wasps have pollinated them. Nevertheless, some species in the genus Sycophaga have a controversial status; as they enter the fig by its ostiole, they possibly bring pollen inside the fig and might pollinate it.
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