Question

The insect Blastophaga grossorum is associated with the pollination of
A)Mango
B)Ficus
C)Paddy
D)Nelumbium

Answer 1

Hint: In the family Agaonidae (fig wasps) that pollinate figs or are otherwise associated with figs, Blastophaga is a wasp genus that has maintained a coevolutionary relationship for at least 80 million years. Fig wasps pollinating are unique to specific figs

Complete answer:
Blastophaga psenes pollinates the common fig Ficus carica. In the Blastophaga family, Blastophaga psenes is a wasp species. The common fig Ficus carica and the closely related Ficus palmata are pollinated by it. These wasps breed in figs without a colony or nest and live for only a couple of days or weeks. They locate by olfactory senses the figure they want to pollinate.

Through a narrow opening at the end, a fertilised female, filled with pollen, penetrates an unripe fig. She oviposits within the fig in the female florets, which grow into a small, globular shining gall; she fertilises many more florets crawling around within the fig than are galled. Females and apterous males emerge from the galls that remain in the figure after a female is fertilised. The young females leave a pollen-covered fig.

Between fig and fig wasps, mutualism exists, which creates a need for specific fig species to be pollinated by specific wasp species. The beginning of the phylogeny of the fig wasp is also the root of mutualism. The genera Blastophaga and Wiebesia are very close in the phylogenetic tree. Ficus species of figs pollinate each of these genera.

Hence, the correct answer is option (B)

Note: B. Psenes are tiny wasps, just around 2 millimetres in length. Although the males are smaller than females, the females are black wasps and appear shiny. While males are wingless, females have transparent and very thin wings. Yet the wings and antennae of women separate as they approach a fig window.