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Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Difference between revisions
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** Whalefish and bignoses are members<ref>female and male, respectively</ref> of the same species of abyssal fish so wildly different from one another that for the longest time, scientists thought that they were entirely different [[One-Gender Race]] species. Not only that, but they have a juvenile stage which is completely distinct from both of them and was itself mistaken for a third species.
* Birds:
** A great many birds have brightly colored males and plain, often larger females. In fact, the word for a male hawk or falcon is "tiercel", which comes from the french word for "one third", because male raptors are a third smaller than females. This makes a certain evolutionary sense—the female has to carry eggs, so a larger body is needed. Males can get away with being smaller (and thus needing less food) because birds generally don't physically fight except in extreme circumstances—it's too easy to hurt a wing and be crippled. Similarly, males normally are bright and females drab so that a nesting female is hard to spot but a displaying male easy to find. (There is also a theory that some species, like peacocks, are essentially advertising their fitness as a mate by showing off a major handicap—a big tail says "Hey, I can walk around with ''this'' strapped to my butt and ''still'' avoid predators! I'm an awesome provider!")
** Peafowl are good examples of extreme difference between the sexes, as are most Galliforms (Chickens, pheasants, turkeys, etc.)
** For an inversion of the usual trend, see the [[wikipedia:Eclectus Parrot|Eclectus Parrot]]. Males are a well-camouflaged green, females are a gaudy red, blue, and purple (Eclectuses are one of the only parrots to practice polygamy, and the females bright colors make it easier for the male to find his ladies on their respective nests). They were actually classified as two different species until (it is rumored) someone caught them mating.
** Another odd inversion: the Phalaropes. For some reason, this group of little Arctic shorebirds have reversed the usual avian gender roles. Females are brightly colored and fight over males, who are drabber and stay with the nest. They have been described [[Put a Bow On Her Head|elsewhere]] as "an entire Genus of [[Wholesome Crossdresser]]s."
** The huia, a strange bird native to New Zealand which was driven extinct by overhunting, had an entirely unique form of sexual dimorphism. The male and female had the same feather markings, but their beaks were shaped very differently. They had separate niches and ate in different ways: claims that they had to work as a team to eat are based on a misunderstanding.
** For birds of prey size dimorphism is common: since females need to lay eggs and sit on them for a while, they are larger. Often it's much more pronounced, especially among the raptors who mainly eat other birds
* Snakes are very rarely dimorphic, but some species of constrictors have a similar size discrepancy to birds of prey, for similar reasons.
* Inversion: Female Spotted Hyenas have identical-looking genitals to males, with a "pseudopenis" and "pseudo-scrotum".
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** Bagworm moths. The females are wingless, eyeless, near-legless breeding machines. The male moth mates with the female while she is still in the cocoon, and in some species, particularly the [[One-Gender Race|asexually-reproducing ones]], the young hatch out of the female ''Alien'' style.
** [[Bee People|Eusocial]] insects have sexual ''tri''morphism, the reproducing females look different than the Worker females, which look different that the males.
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** The adult females of some species of firefly are virtually indistinguishable from the larvae (i.e., grubs), while only the males are the elongated beetles we all know and love.
** Siafu/Driver Ants. The females are not small for ant standards (being about an inch long). The male is about the size of a large sausage, hence the term "sausage fly" for him. The "sausage" part is a bloated abdomen that makes them look like very obese dragonflies. This abdomen? Contains sperm. [[It Gets Worse]]. When they breed the females release a pheromone that attracts the male, who usually have nothing to do with the females (for good reason!). The females chew off all his limbs. Then they rip open his belly and impregnate themselves with the contents while the male lies dying.
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