The Evolution of Mammalian Sociality in an Ecological Perspective

Abstract

This chapter addresses “primitive eusociality” among mammals, includ- ing “cooperatively-breeding” species and the social mole rats (Bathyergidae). Like some social insects, “primitively eusocial” mammals are characterized by overlap of generations, cooperative breeding, and reproductive division-of-labor, though their phenotypes remain totipotent (capable of performing most tasks). Consistent with findings in other eusocial taxa, social mole rats utilize abundant, evenly dispersed nutrients and reside in a protective refugium. Interpretations of the literature pre- sented in this chapter reinforce this brief’s extension of the competitive coexistence literature in Community Ecology. Types’states are viewed herein as features evolved in response to competitive regimes rather than as deterministic functions of resource dispersion, per se. Environmental