By Susan Milius
Some genetically male Australian bearded dragons are growing up as fully functional females in the wild — the first reptiles confirmed to reverse sex under natural conditions.
Eleven of 131 Pogona vitticeps lizards caught at several sites in southeastern Australia during three years had female sex organs but the male ZZ set of sex chromosomes, says Clare Holleley of the University of Canberra in Australia. This survey of wild dragons shows that sex reversal in reptiles isn’t just a laboratory curiosity, Holleley and colleagues report in the July 2 Nature.