Abstract
-Extreme numerical domination by one taxon (or a few taxa) within an assemblage is a pervasive and nonrandom evolutionary pattern. Life history traits of the diverse taxa involved provide insight into the evolutionary traits associated with diversification. We investigated one of these life history traits, the degree of sociality, within selected mammal, bird and insect taxa. We tested three hypotheses that relate sociality to taxonomic diversity: (1) socially structured populations have rapid speciation rates that increase diversity; (2) socially structured populations have rapid speciation and extinction rates so that sociality is not correlated with extreme diversity, and (3) sociality is not a general plesiomorphic adaptation that permits an increase in speciation and diversification but is an apomorphic adaptation that enables organisms to adapt to prevailing environmental conditions. Our analyses permit us to reject the first two hypotheses and support the third.
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