Ficus citrifolia, also known as the shortleaf fig, giant bearded fig, Jagüey, wild banyantree and Wimba tree, is a species of banyan native to southern Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America south to Paraguay.
It is distinguished from the closely related Florida strangler fig (Ficus aurea) mainly by the finer veining in the leaves.
Ficus citrifolia is under strong selective pressure to flower and produce fruit year round due to its mutualistic relationship with its pollinating agaonid wasp.
[8][9] Mites: belonging to the family Tarsonemidae (Acarina) have been recognized in the syconia of F. aurea and F. citrifolia, but they have not been identified even to genus, and their behavior is undescribed.
[6] Midges: Ficiomyia perarticulata (Cecidomyiidae) oviposits in the walls of syconia of F. citrifolia, and the developing larvae induce the plant to form galls there.
Additionally, the knobby, hollow, lattice-like trunk of this tree provides a home for thousands of invertebrates, rodents, bats, birds and reptiles.
Alternatively, genetic mosaicism could mean that the number of certain varieties of fig in an ecosystem may be far lower than biologists have previously thought, and given populations may not have enough trees to maintain their symbiotic relationship with their pollinating wasps.
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