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Ultrasociality and the sexual divisions of labor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2016

Pamela Lyon  and
Linnda R. Caporael
Pamela Lyon
Affiliation:
Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australiapamela.lyon@internode.on.net
Linnda R. Caporael
Affiliation:
Department of Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180. caporl@rpi.edu
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Abstract

The ultrasociality thesis proposes that the same “mechanistic evolutionary forces” may be at work in the evolution of insect eusociality and human ultrasociality in relation to agriculture. Wide variation in the reproductive division of labor among differing highly social phyla points to a resemblance of outcomes arising from very different selective environments and possibly different forces.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 39 , 2016 , e106
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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