Gonochorism

Not to be confused with sexual dimorphism.

In biology, gonochorism is a sexual system where there are two sexes and each individual organism is either male or female.[1] The term gonochorism is usually applied in animal species, the vast majority of which are gonochoric.[2]: 212–222 

Gonochorism contrasts with simultaneous hermaphroditism but it may be hard to tell if a species is gonochoric or sequentially hermaphroditic e.g. parrotfish, Patella ferruginea.[3] However, in gonochoric species individuals remain either male or female throughout their lives.[4] Species that reproduce by thelytokous parthenogenesis and do not have males can still be classified as gonochoric.[5][clarification needed]

  1. ^ King RC, Stansfield WD, Mulligan PK (2006-07-27). "Gonochorism". A Dictionary of Genetics. Oxford University Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-19-976957-5. Archived from the original on 2021-06-11. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
  2. ^ Kliman RM (2016). "Hermaphrodites". In Schärer L, Ramm S (eds.). Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology. Vol. 2. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-800426-5. Archived from the original on 2024-03-28. Retrieved 2021-08-05.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^ Holub AM, Shackelford TK (2020). "Gonochorism". In Vonk J, Shackelford TK (eds.). Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior (PDF). Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 1–3. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_305-1. ISBN 978-3-319-47829-6. S2CID 240938739. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-04-26. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  4. ^ West S (2009-09-28). Sex Allocation. Princeton University Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-4008-3201-9.
  5. ^ Fusco G, Minelli A (2019-10-10). The Biology of Reproduction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-1-108-49985-9.