PATTERNS OF GROUP SPLITTING WITHIN MATRILINEAL KINSHIP GROUPS - STUDY OF SOCIAL GROUP-STRUCTURE IN MACACA-MULATTA (CERCOPITHECIDAE, PRIMATES

1. When social groups of free-ranging rhesus monkeys on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico, undergo fission, they usually divide between genealogies. 2. If a genealogy divides, it is usually between an eldest daughter with her family and the rest of the genealogy. 3. The separation of the eldest daughter from her genealogy is the extreme case of peripheralization of low-ranking females among rhesus monkeys. 4. The founders of new groups that disperse from the former home range are likely to be subordinate individuals in the parent group, as predicted by Christian (1970). 5. The dispersal of families as units is likely to lead to 'lineal effects' (Neel and Salzano, 1967) in the genetical substructure of the population. © 1979 Springer-Verlag.