Article
Morphological castes in a vertebrate.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America - 21 Nov 2000
O'Riain M J, Jarvis J U, Alexander R, Buffenstein R, Peeters C
Abstract excerpt
Morphological specialization for a specific role has, until now, been assumed to be restricted to social invertebrates. Herein we show that complete physical dimorphism has evolved between reproductives and helpers in the eusocial naked mole-rat. Dimorphism is a consequence of the lumbar vertebrae lengthening after the onset of reproduction in females. This is the only known example of morphological castes in a...
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