Although the social mole-rats are commonly classified as eusocial breeders on the grounds that groups include a single breeding female (the “queen”) and a number of nonbreeding individuals (“helpers”) of both sexes, alloparental care is not highly developed in these species and there is no direct evidence that the presence or number of nonbreeders is associated with reductions in the workload of the “queen.” An alternative interpretation of mole-rat groups is that the social mole-rats are cooperative foragers rather than cooperative or eusocial breeders. Here, in captive colonies of Damaraland mole-rats (Fukomys damarensis), we provide the first evidence that increases in the number of nonbreeding subordinates in mole-rat groups are associated with reductions in the workload of “queens” and with increases in their fecundity.

中文翻译：

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合作俘虏达马拉兰land鼠的好处

尽管社会骚扰者通常被归类为亲社会育种者，原因是群体中包括一个单一的雌性育种女性（“女王”）和多个性别的非育种个体（“助手”），但在美国，同种异体育儿并未得到高度发展。这些物种，没有直接证据表明非繁殖者的存在或数量与减少“女王”的工作量有关。mole鼠群体的另一种解释是，社会mole鼠是合作的觅食者，而不是合作的或真社会的繁殖者。在这里，在达马拉兰land鼠（Fukomys damarensis）的殖民地中），我们提供的第一个证据是，mole鼠组中非繁殖下属的数量增加与“女王”工作量的减少及其繁殖力的增加有关。