faeder
A male ruff (bird, Philomachus pugnax, syn. Calidris pugnax) that permanently mimics a female so as to gain access to mating territories and "steal" matings.
Noun
- A male ruff (bird, Philomachus pugnax, syn. Calidris pugnax) that permanently mimics a female so as to gain access to mating territories and "steal" matings.
- Here, we describe a rare female-like morph of ruffs: the ‘missing’ third alternative mating strategy, which we have called ‘faeder’. Faeders are slightly larger than females and in late April have testes 2.5 time the...
- Faeders, male ruffs that mimic females in plumage and "sneak" copulations at leks, secrete monoesters like other males. - 2007, Jeroen Willem Hendrik Reneerkens, Functional aspects of seasonal variation in preen wax...
- It has recently been discovered that a third mating strategy exists for males - the 'faeder' or 'sneaker', which number only about 1% of the Ruff population. - 2009, Richard J. Chandler, Shorebirds of North America,...
Origin
Learned borrowing from Old English fæder (“father”). Doublet of ayr, father, padre, pater, and père.