Gynomorph
Organism with female traits
Gynomorph is a word used to describe an organism with female physical characteristics.
01Mythology
In Greek mythology and religion, a gynomorph was an androgynous deity with both masculine and feminine characteristics. Gynomorphs were portrayed as effeminate young males, like Dionysos, a masculine god who possessed distinctly feminine features. Gynomorphs retained the creative capacity of female divinities: they had cosmic wombs, but they also possessed the inseminating abilities attributed to male divinities.
02Biology
In biology, a gynomorph is an organism with female physical characteristics, whereas an andromorph is an organism with male physical characteristics. For instance, some female damselflies show colour variations typically found in males. Andromorphs, by resembling males, are thought to benefit from avoiding male harassment. Some authors have proposed that this benefit is offset by a higher probability of detection for andromorphs compared to gynomorphs owing to differences in body colouration.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Gynomorph”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Bacchus in Louvre 2.jpg by Afrodita nz, Public domain
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