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Psyche 
[Vol. 91 
which they developed. When a male finds an ovary containing a 
female, he chews a hole, inserts his telescoping abdomen, and mates 
with the female. The many males within the confined cavity walk 
into, over, and on top of each other, but I know of no report of 
aggressive interactions among male fig wasps. Nonrandom patterns 
of male movement within the syconium during mating have been 
discussed by Frank (1983a, 1985). 
After a one to two day mating period, one or more males chew(s) 
an exit tunnel through the wall of the syconium. Following comple- 
tion of the exit tunnel, the females widen the hole in the floret ovary 
created by the male during mating, and then struggle free into the 
central cavity of the syconium. Their wings are stuck to the abdo- 
men and the pupal skin still covers their heads. They quickly groom 
their wings free by passing their rear legs between the wings and 
upper abdomen while simultaneously removing their pupal skin 
from their head with their forelegs. 
After grooming, the females immediately begin to search for an 
anther that still contains pollen. When an anther is found the dehis- 
cence slit is opened by passing one of the sclerotized horns on the 
third antennal segment (Fig. 1) through the length of the slit. Then 
the anterior portion of the head is placed within the anther, with the 
mandibles loosening the pollen grains, and the pronotum is slid 
forward and down. Next a foreleg (e.g., right foreleg) is stretched 
forward and placed in the anther, and the arolium scoops up a load 
of pollen. This load of pollen is moved upwards to the left forecoxa, 
and the left foreleg is simultaneously extended towards the anther. 
As the left foreleg is extended the left coxa is moved slightly away 
from the underside of the body exposing the pocket on the coxa 
(Fig. 7). The load of pollen from the right arolium is placed in the 
pocket of the left coxa. Next the right foreleg is extended again to 
pick up another load of pollen, and the pollen load of the left foreleg 
is placed on the right coxal pocket. After 16-32 loads (n=7) have 
been collected, the coxal pockets are bulging with pollen. Pollen is 
also in the intersegmental region between the pro- and meso-sterna. 
The pollen is now moved from the coxal pockets and sternal 
region to the mesothoracic pockets. The sequence of movements is 
quite similar to those described above for pollen raking during pol- 
lination. The wasp lifts her head from the anther. The coxae are 
pressed against the prosternum, forming about a 45° angle with the 
medial line of the sternum. The coxae are then brushed posteriorly 
