In this study, we experimentally examined the ovipositing sequence of the pollinator
Ceratosolen fuscicep
, non-pollinating wasp
Platyneura mayri
of
Ficus racemosa
and non-pollinating wasp
Acophila
sp.1 and
Wakerella benjamini
of
Ficus benjamina
in Xishuangbanna from Apr. 2006 to Jun. 2007. For the pollinating fig wasps, we injected ether into the receptive fruits with different time intervals after introducing the fig wasps, killing the fig wasps; for the non-pollinating fig wasps, we manually controlled ovipositing time length through organdy bags. After the treated fruits developed to be mature stage, we collected the adult wasps, and then analyzed and compared the offspring sex ratio under different ovipositing time length. The data showed that fig wasp
C. fuscicep, P. mayri and
Acophila sp.1 firstly oviposit their male offspring. The male offspring was much higher than female, if the mother wasps only oviposited one hour, whist the female offspring will be increased with the increase of oviposting time of mother wasps and the female offspring will be much higher than male offspring when the mother wasps could sufficiently oviposit their offspring in these three fig wasps. These results partly explain that the female offspring sex ratio decrease with increase of number of foundresses. However, the ovipositing sequence of
Wakerella benjamini randomly oviposit their eggs and the sex ratio is about 1:1. Our results here imply that the ovipositing sequence and ovipositing time length of mother wasps might be of the most important factors determining the offspring sex ratio of fig wasps.
