melanism

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melanosis

[mel″ah-no´sis]

1. disordered melanin production, with darkening of the skin; called also melanism.

2. a disorder of pigment metabolism.

melanosis co´li brown-black discoloration of the mucosa of the colon.

melanosis i´ridis (melanosis of the iris) abnormal pigmentation of the iris by infiltration of melanoblasts.

mel·a·nism

(mel'ă-nizm),

Unusually marked, diffuse, melanin pigmentation of body hair and skin (usually not affecting the iris).
See also: melanosis.

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

melanism

(mĕl′ə-nĭz′əm)

1. See melanosis.

2. Dark coloration of the skin, hair, fur, or feathers because of a high concentration of melanin.

mel′a·nis′tic adj.

mel·a·nism

(mel'ă-nizm)

Unusually marked, diffuse melanin pigmentation of body hair and skin (usually not affecting the iris).
See also: melanosis

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

melanism

a condition in which excessive production of MELANIN produces unusual dark colour or blackness in scales, skin or plumage. see INDUSTRIAL MELANISM.

Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005

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1946: The role of natural selection in distribution and dynamics of melanism in common hamster (Cricetus cricetus L.).

Low phenotypic variation in eastern common hamsters Cricetus cricetus

Melanism in endangered Mohave tui chub Siphateles bicolor mohavensis Snyder, 1918 (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae).

First record of melanism in Cheilodactylus variegatus Valenciennes, 1833 (Perciformes, Cheilodactylidae)/Primer registro de melanismo en Cheilodactylus variegatus Valenciennes, 1833 (Perciformes, Cheilodactylidae)

The back-wingtip score was doubled because plumage melanism is considered the best way to visually distinguish hybrids from pure birds (Bell 1996).

Mating patterns and breeding success in gulls of the Larus glaucescens-occidentalis complex, Protection Island, Washington, USA

Sargent (1985) suggested that some melanic moths may be adapted to exploit white backgrounds that are variegated with black, rather than the uniformly dark backgrounds suggested by the traditional explanation of industrial melanism (Kettlewell 1958a).

Selection of perching site background color by Hamadryas feronia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in Costa Rica: implications for industrial melanism

She also considers the reasons 20th century race researchers placed Asians at the summit of the intelligence racial hierarchy, describes the equally pseudoscientific (if far less celebrated) response of "melanism" researchers who ascribe superior qualities to those with greater melanin, and presents a new way of thinking about intelligence that holistically includes those qualities that race and intelligence researchers tend to ignore.

Straightening the bell curve; how stereotypes about black masculinity drive research on race and intelligence

Ecology becomes central in the second and longest chapter, "A Green Machine," in which a cryptic discussion of the concept of an ecosystem precedes a treatment of standard ecological topics, including adaptation, industrial melanism, the Galapagos finches, niches, and food webs.

Ecology and the Environment: The Mechanisms, Marrings, and Maintenance of Nature

This single supergene also appears important in melanism in other species, including moths.

How butterflies copy their neighbours to fool birds

Thus, while thermal melanism may be important for warming the body in some terrestrial organisms (King-solver, 1996; Clusella-Trullas et al, 2007), the importance to gastropods in intertidal systems is less clear.

Importance of behavior and morphological traits for controlling body temperature in littorinid snails

The melanism of the human prototype is certainly not happenchance.

Understanding essentialism as fundamental: the centered African perspective on the nature of prototypical human nature: cosmological Ka (spirit)

Insularity and the evolution of melanism, sexual dichromaticsm and body size in the worldwide-distributed barn owl.