Why would the males of a species exhibit polymorphism?

A hypothetical species is divided into males and females that exhibit pronounced sexual dimorphism. The males are further divided into multiple morphs (e.g. α-male, β-male, γ-male, etc). This polymorphism is extreme enough that a viewer unfamiliar with this species could mistake all these morphs for different species. If the species were to possess human-like intelligence, they might treat these morphs as separate genders (e.g. aqir, qntal, guqin, etc).

What selection pressures would favor such polymorphism?

EDIT: Reproduction is a simple matter of a male inseminating a female. At some point selection pressure caused the males to diverge into multiple morphs. Differences between the morphs are as extreme as those between dog breeds. The details are deliberately vague so that this question could be applied to plants, fish, mammals, etc.

EDIT: I do not mean to imply that morphs are necessarily hereditary or limited to a specific number.

posted almost 8 years ago

Anonymous‭

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