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In Joshua Tree National Park, the yucca moth (Tegeticula paradoxa) visits the Joshua tree blossom at night, rolls the pollen into a ball, flies to another flower, and ascends the pistil to force the pollen ball into the tubular stigma. Using her ovipositor, the moth then lays 4-5 eggs within the flower's ovary walls. Her young are therefore assured of a food supply after hatching. The larvae consume about half of the fruit. There is "no other known instance of an insect which sems to pollinate the flowers so deliberatley." A "shocking" 90% of the Joshua tree's flowers die before producing fruit. The relationship between the yucca moth and the Joshua tree is said to be one of "coevolved obligate mutualism;" a complete mutual dependence on each other.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Wiki User
∙ 9y agoThe Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) would not exist without the humble yucca moth. Two similar, short-lived, inconspicuous species of yucca moth, Tegeticula and Parategeticula, bear all responsibility for pollinating the tree. In return, the moths are able to propagate their own species by laying eggs inside the tree's flowers.
Wiki User
∙ 9y agoyes
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What is the relationship between the yucca plant and moth?
A Yucca Moth caterpillar eats yucca plants. The adult moth lays her eggs on yucca plants.
What advantages and disadvantages of a Yucca plant and yucca moth?
the yucca moth benefits with the yucca plant so the yucca moth can get food from the yucca plant .
What is the relationship between a yucca flower and a yucca moth?
The Yucca plant gives the moth a place to lay her eggs, while the moth helps the plant reproduce. The moth brings pollen from other Yucca plants to the female portion of the plant. It then deposits the pollen into the plant. The moth also lays its eggs in the plant. Once the eggs hatch the lavae feed on the Yucca plants seeds that were formed by the pollen that the moth brought. Since both animals are benefiting from this relationship, it is called a Mutualistic association.
What has a symbiotic relationship with a yucca?
yucca moth
Why do the yucca plant and yucca moth live together?
The female yucca moth chooses to go to nearby yucca plant in order to get the pollen from the plant. The moth then starts to lay eggs in the large flowers of the yucca plant.
What animal is a symbiotic relationship to a yucca?
It's a mutualistic relationship. The yucca plant (Mexico, Caribbean and Southern US) can't pollinate itself to grow more seeds. The yucca moth pollinates the plant and lays its eggs inside the plant. When the moth larvae hatch, they feed on the seeds of the yucca plant, but the plant only lets a certain number grow, so that they don't eat all the seeds. So by pollinating the plant, the moth develops food for its larvae and the plant as well as the moth can survive and continue. And the adult moths emerge from their underground cocoons exactly when the yucca plants are in flower, in early summer.
Where do yucca moths live?
The Yucca Moth lives in the southwestern United States, Mexico, and the West Indes. Yucca Moths have a symbiotic relationship with the Yucca plant, they can not exist without each other.
What is the role of a yucca in a mutualistic relationship?
The Yucca Moth can only lay it's eggs in the yucca flowers, but it helps the yucca, fertilizing the flowers. The yucca needs the moth to spread pollen, and the moth needs the yucca for a place to lay it's eggs. This is mutualism.
Why does the yucca moth and the yucca plant live together?
The yucca moth lives on the yucca plant and does no travel to other flowers or plants. Adult moths live inside the flowers and the larval stages are all completed inside the yucca fruits as they develop.
How do the yucca plant and the yucca moth benefit each other?
they both like each other
What is the difference between moth and a yucca moth?
The yucca moth is associated with the yucca, a flowering plant, mostly found in Mexico and the southwestern United States. When mature, yucca pollen grains form sticky masses, which pregnant female yucca moths collect with long appendages (called maxillary palpi) from their mouth region, form into balls, and transport. When ready to lay her eggs, she crawls into another flower, and lays her eggs inside of an ovary of the flower. She then climbs to the top of the ovary, and presses the pollen into the central stigmatic depression. In doing so, she ensures the pollination of the flower in which she has laid her egg. The germinating pollen grains fertilize hundreds of immature seeds inside of the plant, some of which will provide food for the larvae as it matures. Both the yucca plant and moth are dependent on this pollination regime for survival.
Is a yucca moth a insect?
yes the yucca moth is a insect because it is in the moth family.
