抄録
Sociobiology and Japanese primate sociology are discussed to develop theories on evolution of social structures and behaviors in primates. Central problems on applying sociobiology to the primate evolution may be concepts of phenotype and selection pressure. Phenotypes for primate social structures and behaviors would be correlated each others (multi-polar), and be hierarchically organized (multi-level). For the selection pressure, “active selection pressures”, such as species recognition and sociality, may be critical for the primate evolution. Since the “active selection pressure” has properties of phenotype, we insist “dualism” of the active selection pressure and phenotype could be a critical mechanism of the primate evolution. On the other hand, primate sociology, which has been leaded by Imanishi, is characterized by its idea of “holism”that individuals serve the prosperity of species. Although Imanishi's primate sociology has been pointed out to differ from sociobiology in several points, we consider that it can be fruitfully reconstructed in the framework of neo-Darwinism when the idea of “holism” is abundant. Further, Itani has shown basic social units as the phylogenetic constraint. Since the phenotypic dynamic theory of neo-Darwinism involves phylogenetic constraint, it could reveal evolution of primate social structures. Thus, Imanishi's primate sociology and Itani's theory could be reconstructed in the framework of neo-Darwinism. The reconstruction would be fruitful to develop theories on evolutionary mechanisms of social structures and behaviors in primates.
