Tetrapus is a genus of fig wasp

Fig wasp

Fig wasps are wasps of the family Agaonidae which pollinate figs or are otherwise associated with figs, a coevolutional relationship that has been developing for at least 80 million years...

 native to the Americas

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

. Fig wasps have an obligate

Obligate

Obligate means "by necessity" and is used mainly in biology in phrases such as:* Obligate aerobe, an organism that cannot survive without oxygen* Obligate anaerobe, an organism that cannot survive in the presence of oxygen...

 mutualism with the fig

Ficus

Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...

 species they pollinate. Tetrapus pollinates

Pollination

Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred in plants, thereby enabling fertilisation and sexual reproduction. Pollen grains transport the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself...

 figs in the subgenus

Subgenus

In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.In zoology, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the generic name and the specific epithet: e.g. the Tiger Cowry of the Indo-Pacific, Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, which...

 Pharmacosycea

Pharmacosycea

Pharmacosycea is one of six subgenera currently recognised in the genus Ficus. It was proposed by E. J. H. Corner in 1967 to unite section Pharmacosycea with Oreosycea.Recent molecular phylogenies has shown that the subgenus is polyphyletic...

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Tetrapus appears to be a basal clade

Basal (phylogenetics)

In phylogenetics, a basal clade is the earliest clade to branch in a larger clade; it appears at the base of a cladogram.A basal group forms an outgroup to the rest of the clade, such as in the following example:...

 among the fig-pollinating wasps.

The genus is estimated to be 87.5 million years old using cytochrome oxidase nucleotide sequences, and more than 34.5 million years old based on a fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 from Florissant, Colorado

Florissant, Colorado

Florissant is a census-designated place and a U.S. Post Office in Teller County, Colorado, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 104.Florissant, Colorado, was named after Florissant, Missouri, the hometown of the founding family...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

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