Overview
All agaonids are associated with figs (
Ficus
), some acting as pollinators (Agaoninae) and others are phytophagous or possibly parasitoids. All species are associated with the fig inflorescences (syconia). The relationship between figs and their agaonine pollinators is an obligate mutualism, since
Ficus
species can be pollinated only by the right species of fig wasps, and fig wasps are unable to produce progeny outside a narrow spectrum of fig species. The biology of non-pollinator species of Agaonidae is poorly known, however it is thought that most of these species, which have generally been considered to be parasitoids, are actually phytophagous. The larvae feed on the fig ovaria, or may be seed-eaters or gall-formers within the fig syconia.
Description
The Agaonidae are a medium-sized family found in the tropics and subtropics and are generally only collected on figs. The family is characterised by the head lacking a horseshoe-shaped occipital carina (which is typical of Torymidae), the body generally smooth or with only very faint sculpturing, and with at least one of the following characters: mid femur distinctly more slender than either fore or hind leg, or mandibles in female modified into rasp-like structures, or female metasoma modified into terminal 'tail' composed of either ovipositor alone or ovipositor and terminal tergites. In addition, the stigmal vein of the fore wing is often slender and at a right angle to the wing margin. Species are often strongly sexually dimorphic, with males wingless and with reduced appendages and hardly recognisable as wasps.
Distribution
Keys to Australasian genera are included in Boucek (1988).
Further information on the Agaonidae can be found in Boucek 1988, Gibson 1993, Naumann 1991, Noyes & Valentine 1989, Noyes 2001.