dimorphism

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dimorphism The presence of one or more morphological differences that divide a species into two groups. Many examples come from sexual differences of particular traits, such as body size (males are often larger than females), or plumage (male birds are usually more colourful than females). These result from sex-linkage of the genes coding for the particular trait. However, some dimorphisms, such as the colour-phases of some birds, may not be sex-linked.

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