For fig blossoms to open internally, they depend on a specific pollination process, as they cannot rely on wind or bees to spread pollen. This is where the fig wasp comes in. The fig cannot survive without it, and the relationship is reciprocal, because the wasp lays its larvae inside the fig . This is called mutualism.
The female wasp lays her eggs in a male fig, whose shape facilitates the reception of the wasp larvae, but their wings and antennae break when they penetrate the fruit, preventing them from getting out again.
Only the live wasp will be small enough to escape. The males are born wingless because their sole purpose is to reproduce with the females, who are technically their sisters, and to bore a tunnel out of the fig. It is the females that emerge and carry the pollen with them.
