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Science 22 July 2005:
Vol. 309. no. 5734, p. 532
DOI: 10.1126/science.309.5734.532k
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This Week in Science

The males and females of Eclectus roratus, a parrot of the Australian rainforest, are so different in their plumage that they were long regarded as separate species. In contrast to the normal pattern in sexually dimorphic birds, males are drab while females are brightly colored. An 8-year field study by Heinsohn et al. (p. 617) has revealed that the reversed sexual dichromatism in Eclectus is not a result of sex-role reversal, the standard explanation for this phenomenon. Instead, it seems that contrasting selection pressures are acting on males (avoiding predation) and females (competition with other females).




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)