In their larval and reproductive stages, Pegoscapus wasps are confined to figs which provide protection and nutrients.

The mutualism between figs and Pegoscapus persists in part due to the failure of all wasps to translate all of their eggs to offspring as.

Moreover, lifetime reproductive success of female wasps entering the syconium is unaffected by a lack of oviposition in all fig ovaries, so this adaptation to maintain the mutualism is not harmful to Pegoscapus.

[7] Monoecious syconia of these species have a globular inflorescence with pistillate and staminate florets lining a sealed cavity.

To assess the developmental stage of the syconia and therefore its readiness for her to enter, female Pegoscapus touch the entrance with her antennae to determine the looseness of the blocking mechanisms of the fig.

[7] A common characteristic of male Pegoscapus is the seminal vesicle which produces fluids used to complete ejaculation.

The anterior portion stores mature spermatozoa and aides in reabsorption and digestion of defective cells and sperm fluid.

This suggests reduced aggression in this species is due to less competition for syconia as oviposition sites which are essential to successful reproduction.

[9] The global and local diversity of Ficus and Pegoscapus species has been difficult to explain based on the assumption of strict sense cospeciation and one-to-one pollinator specificity.

However, it has been suggested that hybridization and introgression due to pollinators switching and sharing hosts are the major mechanisms causing diversity of fig and wasp species.

[10] Hybridization between Pegoscapus species results in new genotype combinations causing diversification and evolution of specialized pollinators.

Inbreeding that occurs in Pegoscapus reinforces this divergence by causing these new genotype combinations to persist in the population.

Since the fig trees have more variance in genotype, the wasp species must continually acquire adaptations to maintain the obligate mutualism in order to survive.

Microsatellite loci are vital when distinguishing cryptic Pegoscapus species for evolutionary and population genetic studies.

LMC occurrence is therefore supported by instances of isolated populations, high levels of inbreeding, and female biased sex ratios.

Pegoscapus's entire reproductive cycle occurs within a fig; therefore, they have isolated populations creating competition between brothers for mates.

Pegoscapus having female biases in brood (isolated sub populations) sex ratio have been found.

Mothers ensure their sons have high mating success and fitness by producing a female biased sex ratio in the eggs they lay.

[15] An assumption of LMC theory asserts each foundress wasp contributes the same number of eggs to the brood (isolated sub population).

The slope strategy alters sex ratios once the capacity of a fig is crossed or when interference reduces clutch size.

As the sex ratio of Pegoscapus tonduzi becomes more female biased, the number of non-pollinating fig wasps increased.

This reveals that non-pollinating wasps have a direct effect in distorting the sex ratio of Pegoscapus tonduzi broods.

[18] Through a study on a tripartite system comprising a fig (Ficus petiolaris), female Pegoscapus, and host-specialist nematode parasite (Parasitodiplogaster sp.

Moderate levels of infection (defined as 1-9 juvenile nematodes per host) were well tolerated by Pegoscapus whereas higher levels of infection (defined as 10 or more nematodes per host) were correlated with significant reduction in Pegoscapus lifespan and dispersal success.

[3] Longer developmental periods of Pegoscapus correlate with decreasing temperature because winter is the season with the lowest chances of the short-lived adults to find an oviposition site due to few receptive figs.

However, fig wasps do not remain enclosed in their sheltered larval habitat during the winter because the decrease in temperature does not slow development enough.

[19] Fig wasp life span is significantly reduced with temperature increases predicted to occur by the end of the 21st century.

If Pegoscapus cannot adapt to the increasing mean daytime temperature, then their shortened lifespan will reduce the dispersion of pollination among flowering fig trees, heavily impacting the tropical forest ecosystem.