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SPECIES RECOGNITION AS A POSSIBLE FUNCTION FOR VARIATIONS IN POSITION AND SHAPE OF THE SEXUALLY DIMORPHIC TUSKS OF MESOPLODON WHALES
Author(s) -
Macleod Colin D.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.0014-3820.2000.tb01261.x
Subject(s) - sympatric speciation , biology , sexual dimorphism , genus , zoology , evolutionary biology
. Beaked whales of the genus Mesoplodon are characterized by the presence of a single pair of sexually dimorphic tusks. Variation in the position and shape of these tusks was examined in four sympatric species and was found to be consistent with the hypothesis that these differences may have evolved to aid species recognition between sympatric and otherwise morphologically similar species of this genus.