ZW system

English

ZW sex determination in birds (as exemplified by chickens)

Proper noun

ZW system

1. (biology) A system for characterizing the sex of certain animals, such as butterflies and Komodo dragons, in which males have two of the same kind of sex cell (ZZ) and females have two distinct sex cells (ZW).

Alternative forms

• ZZ-ZW system

See also

• XY system
• X0 system

Further reading

• ZW sex-determination system on Wikipedia.Wikipedia