EVOLUTION OF EUSOCIALITY IN THE BATHYERGIDAE - THE CASE OF THE GIANT MOLE RATS (CRYPTOMYS-MECHOWI)
EVOLUTION OF EUSOCIALITY IN THE BATHYERGIDAE - THE CASE OF THE GIANT MOLE RATS (CRYPTOMYS-MECHOWI)
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DOI：
10.1007/bf01175742
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发表时间：
1993-05-01
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
KAWALIKA, M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
BURDA, H;KAWALIKA, M
非洲特有啮齿动物科 Bathyergidae 的地下裸鼹鼠和普通鼹鼠（Heterocephalus 和 Cryptomys）是唯一具有真社会性的哺乳动物 [1-4]。它们生活在由一对繁殖对和终生留在父母巢中并维持家庭“福利”的非繁殖后代组成的大家庭中。在过去的几年里，裸鼹鼠已成为生命科学许多领域的一个引人注目的话题[5-8]。讨论最多的问题之一涉及其独特社会结构的进化和功能意义。地下生态环境的捕食者安全被认为是异头龙社会性进化的驱动力[9]。然而，没有证据表明进化趋同：事实上，大多数地下哺乳动物（约 250 个现存物种）都是独居的 [10 [.大多数作者 [5-8, 11, 12] 将鼹鼠的社会性与体型较小、栖息地半干旱（降雨量少于 350 ram）以及普遍以大型但分布广泛的土生植物为食联系起来。该情景假设，在半干旱地区，合作觅食对于生存是必要的，而在这些地区，分散和找不到足够食物的风险也很高。
Subterranean, naked and common mole rats (Heterocephalus and Cryptomys) of the African endemic rodent family Bathyergidae are the only mammals which are eusocial [1-4]. They live in large families which consist of a single breeding pair and nonreproductive offspring remaining lifelong in the parental nest and maintaining the family" welfare". Within the last few years, naked mole rats have become a remarkable topic in many areas of the life sciences [5-8]. One of the most discussed questions concerns the evolution and functional meaning of their unique social structure.Predator safety of the subterranean ecotope was considered to be a driving force in evolving eusociality in Heterocephalus [9]. There is, however, no evidence of evolutionary convergence: in fact, most subterranean mammals (about 250 living species) are solitary [10 [. Most authors [5-8, 11, 12] related sociality in mole rats to small body size, semi-aridity of the habitat (rainfall less than 350 ram), and prevalent feeding on large, but widely spaced geophytes. The scenario assumes that cooperative foraging is necessary for survival in semi-arid areas where also the risk of dispersal and not finding enough food is high.