Biology · Sexual Reproduction in Flowering Plants · NEET
In ordinary insect pollination, a bee visits many kinds of flowers and the flower can be pollinated by several insects - if one is missing, another does the job. In Yucca-moth mutualism, ONE specific moth species is the only pollinator of Yucca, and that moth's larvae can only develop inside Yucca ovaries. So if the moth disappears, the plant is not pollinated and makes no seeds; if the plant disappears, the moth cannot breed. NCERT says 'neither can complete its life cycle without the other' - that phrase is the definition of obligate. For NEET, 'complete its life cycle' is the exact wording examiners test.
The moth gets two things: a safe place inside the ovary to lay its eggs, and food - its larvae eat some of the developing seeds (ovules). The plant gets pollinated, so it forms seeds at all. It is a fair deal because the larvae eat only SOME seeds, not all - enough seeds survive to make new Yucca plants. This is why it is mutualism (both benefit) and not parasitism (one benefits, other only loses). The same logic applies to the fig and fig wasp.
Yes - NEET 2025 marked it correct. The female fig wasp enters the fig, pollinates it, lays her eggs, and then dies inside the fruit. Her body and the larvae remain inside as the fig develops. Because the fig therefore contains animal matter, the exam framing treats the fig as a 'non-vegetarian fruit'. Do not overthink it: NCERT describes the fig-wasp as a tight one-to-one mutualism where the wasp uses the fig to lay eggs and the fig gets pollinated - both statements in that question were accepted as correct.
Same: both are obligate one-to-one mutualisms - a single insect species pollinates a single plant species, and neither partner survives without the other. Both involve the insect laying eggs inside the plant's ovary and larvae feeding on some seeds. Different only in the players: Yucca is pollinated by a moth, fig is pollinated by a wasp. NCERT presents Yucca-moth as the main example in the Sexual Reproduction chapter and mentions fig-wasp as the analogous case. For NEET, just remember the pairing: Yucca-moth, fig-wasp.
Which one of the following plants shows a very close relationship with a species of moth, where none of the two can complete its life cycle without the other?
Given below are two statements: Statement I: Fig fruit is a non-vegetarian fruit as it has enclosed fig wasps in it. Statement II: Fig wasp and fig tree exhibit a mutual relationship, as the fig fruit provides the wasp a place to lay eggs and the fig gets pollinated by the fig wasp. In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer.
Try the real previous-year questions from this chapter — each with the answer and a full solution.
It is a relationship where a plant and its pollinating insect both benefit - the insect pollinates the flower and in return gets food or a place to lay eggs, as in Yucca-moth and fig-wasp.
Yucca. It is pollinated only by a specific species of moth, and that moth can breed only inside Yucca flowers, so neither can complete its life cycle without the other.
Obligate. The fig is pollinated by one specific wasp species, and that wasp can lay its eggs and breed only inside the fig, so both partners are fully dependent on each other.
Because the female fig wasp enters the fig, pollinates it, lays eggs, and dies inside it. The fruit therefore encloses animal matter (the wasp and larvae), which is why the exam framing calls it non-vegetarian.
No. Even though the moth larvae eat some seeds, enough seeds survive for the plant to reproduce and the moth is the plant's only pollinator. Both benefit, so it is mutualism, not parasitism.
