Is the Cape dune mole-rat, Bathyergus suillus (Rodentia: Bathyergidae), a seasonal or aseasonal breeder?

Journal of Mammalogy

Volumn 87, Issue 6, 2006, Pages 1078-1085

  Hart, L ^a   O'Riain, M J ^b   Jarvis, J U M ^b   Bennett, N C ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA   (South Africa)

^b UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN   (South Africa)

Author keywords

Bathyergidae; Cape dune mole rat; Hormone concentration; Mole rat; Seasonal reproduction

Indexed keywords

BODY MASS; DUNE; ESTROGENIC COMPOUND; GAMETOGENESIS; HISTOLOGY; MORPHOMETRY; REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY; REPRODUCTIVE CYCLE; RODENT; SEASONALITY; TESTOSTERONE;

AFRICA; SOUTH AFRICA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; WESTERN CAPE;

BATHYERGIDAE; BATHYERGUS SUILLUS; RODENTIA;

EID: 33846061268     PISSN: 00222372     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1644/05-MAMM-A-411R2.1     Document Type: Review

References (37)

1. ANIMAL CARE AND USE COMMITTEE. 1998. Guidelines for the capture, handling, and care of mammals as approved by the American Society of Mammalogists. Journal of Mammalogy 79:1416-1431.
2. BENNETT, N. C., AND G. H. AGUILAR. 1995. The reproductive biology of the giant Zambian mole-rat, Cryptomys mechowi (Rodentia: Bathyergidae). South African Journal of Zoology 30:1-4.
3. BENNETT, N. C., AND C. G. FAULKES. 2000. African mole-rats: ecology and eusociality. Cambridge University Press, London, United Kingdom.
4. BENNETT, N. C., C. G. FAULKES, AND J. U. M. JARVIS. 1999. Socially-induced infertility incest avoidance and the monopoly of reproduction in cooperatively breeding African mole-rats. Advances in the Study of Behavior 28:75-113.
5. BENNETT, N. C., C. G. FAULKES, AND A. J. MOLTENO. 1996. Reproductive suppression in subordinate, non-breeding female Damaraland mole-rats: two components to a lifetime of socially-induced infertility. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B. Biological Sciences 263:1599-1603.
6. BENNETT, N. C., C. G. FAULKES, AND A. J. MOLTENO. 2000. Reproduction in subterranean rodents. Pp. 145-177 in Life underground: the biology of subterranean rodents (E. A. Lacey, J. L. Patton, and G. N. Cameron, eds.). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.
7. BENNETT, N. C., C. G. FAULKES, AND A. C. SPINKS. 1997. LH responses to single doses of exogenous GnRH by social Mashona mole-rats: a continuum of socially-induced infertility in the family Bathyergidae. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B. Biological Sciences 264:1001-1006.
8. BENNETT, N. C., AND J. U. M. JARVIS. 1988a. The reproductive biology of the Cape mole-rat, Georychus capensis (Rodentia: Bathyergidae). Journal of Zoology (London) 214:95-106.
9. BENNETT, N. C., AND J. U. M. JARVIS. 1988b. The social structure and reproductive biology of colonies of the mole-rat Cryptomys damarensis (Rodentia, Bathyergidae). Journal of Mammalogy 69:293-302.
10. BENNETT, N. C., J. U. M. JARVIS, R. P. MILLAR, H. SASANO, AND K. V. NTSHINGA. 1994. Reproductive suppression in eusocial Cryptomys damarensis colonies: socially-induced infertility in females. Journal of Zoology (London) 233:617-630.
11. BLOOM, W., AND D. W. FAWCETT. 1962. A textbook of histology. W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
12. BUSCH, C., ET AL. 2000. Population ecology of subterranean rodents. Pp. 227-256 in Life underground: the biology of subterranean rodents (E. A. Lacey, J. L. Patton, and G. N. Cameron, eds.). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.
13. CHARD, T. 1987. An introduction to radioimmunoassay and related techniques. 3rd ed. Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
14. DENNIS, A. J., AND H. MARSH. 1997. Sexual reproduction in musky rat-kangaroos, Hypsiprymnodon moschatus: a response to changes in resource availability. Wildlife Research 24:561-578.
15. DRURY, R. A. B., AND E. A. WALLINGTON. 1967. Carleton's histological technique. Oxford University Press, London, United Kingdom.
16. HANSEN, R. M. 1960. Age and reproductive characteristics of mountain pocket gophers in Colorado. Journal of Mammalogy 41:323-335.
17. HART, L., M. J. O'RIAIN, J. U. M. JARVIS, AND N. C. BENNETT. 2006. The pituitary potential for opportunistic breeding in the Cape dune mole-rat, Bathyergus suillus. Physiology and Behavior 88:615-619.
18. HERBST, M., J. U. M. JARVIS, AND N. C. BENNETT. 2004. Non-invasive assessment of reproductive seasonality in the red data listed wild Namaqua dune mole-rat, Bathyergus janetta. Journal of Zoology (London) 263:259-268.
19. JANSE VAN RENSBURG, L., N. C. BENNETT, M. VAN DER MERWE, AND A. S. SCHOEMAN. 2002. The highveld mole-rat, Cryptomys hottentotus pretoriae-a seasonal or aseasonal breeder. Canadian Journal of Zoology 80:810-820.
20. JANSE VAN RENSBURG, L., N. C. BENNETT, M. VAN DER MERWE, A. S. SCHOEMAN, AND J. BRINDERS. 2003. Are non-reproductive male highveld mole-rats, Cryptomys hottentotus pretoriae physiologically suppressed while in the confines of the natal colony? Journal of Zoology (London) 260:73-78.
21. JARVIS, J. U. M. 1969. The breeding season and litter size of African mole-rats. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility, Supplement 6:237-248.
22. JARVIS, J. U. M. 1981. Eusociality in a mammal: cooperative breeding in naked mole-rat colonies. Science 212:571-573.
23. JARVIS, J. U. M., AND N. C. BENNETT. 1990. The evolutionary history, population biology and social structure of African mole-rats: family Bathyergidae. Pp. 97-128 in Evolution of subterranean mammals at the organismal and molecular levels (E. Nevo and O. A. Reig, eds.). Alan R. Liss, Wiley-Liss, New York.
24. JARVIS, J. U. M., M. J. O'RIAIN, N. C. BENNETT, AND P. W. SHERMAN. 1994. Mammalian eusociality-a family affair. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 9:47-51.
25. NEVO, E. 1979. Adaptive convergence and divergence of subterranean mammals. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 10:269-308.
26. PARAG, A. G., N. C. BENNETT, C. G. FAULKES, AND P. W. BATEMAN. 2006. Penile morphology of African mole rats (Bathyergidae): structural modification in relation to mode of ovulation and degree of sociality. Journal of Zoology (London) 270:323-329.
27. RADO, R., Z. WOLLBERG, AND J. TERKEL. 1992. Dispersal of young mole-rats (Spalax ehrenbergi) from the natal burrow. Journal of Mammalogy 73:885-890.
28. SKINNER, J. D., AND R. H. N. SMITHERS. 1990. The mammals of the southern African subregion. Cape and Transvaal Printers, Pretoria, South Africa.
29. SPINKS, A. C., N. C. BENNETT, AND J. U. M. JARVIS. 1999. Regulation of reproduction in female common mole-rats, Cryptomys hottentotus hottentotus, the effects of breeding season and reproductive status. Journal of Zoology (London) 248:161-168.
30. SPINKS, A. C., G. VAN DER HORST, AND N. C. BENNETT. 1997. Influence of breeding season and reproductive status on male reproductive characteristics in the common mole-rat, Cryptomys hottentotus hottentotus. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 109:78-86.
31. STATSOFT, INC. 2002. Statistica. Version 6. StatSoft, Inc., Tulsa, Oklahoma.
32. SUMBERA, R., H. BURDA, AND W. N. CHITAUKALI. 2003. Reproductive biology of a solitary subterranean bathyergid rodent, the silvery mole-rat (Heliophobius argenteocinereus). Journal of Mammalogy 84:278-287.
33. VAN DER HORST, G. 1972. Seasonal effects of anatomy and histology on the reproductive tract of the male rodent mole. Zoologica Africana 7:491-520.
34. VAN SANDWYK, J. D. T., AND N. C. BENNETT. 2005. Do solitary, seismic signaling Cape mole-rats (Georychus capensis) demonstrate spontaneous or induced ovulation? Journal of Zoology (London) 267:75-80.
35. VAUGHAN, T. A. 1962. Reproduction in plains pocket gopher in Colorado. Journal of Mammalogy 43:1-13.
36. VERTS, B. J., AND L. N. CARRAWAY. 1991. Summer breeding and fecundity in the camas pocket gopher, Thomomys bullivorus. Northwestern Naturalist 72:61-65.
37. WOODALL, P. F., AND J. D. SKINNER. 1989. Seasonality of reproduction in male rock elephant shrews, Elephantulus myurus. Journal of Zoology (London) 217:203-212.