Charles Darwin e Alfred Russel Wallace sull’origine della colorazione animale tra selezione sessuale e selezione naturale

This study analyzes the works and correspondence of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace about the differences in external coloration in sexually dimorphic birds, in order to reconstruct their contrasting explanations of this subject. Darwin and Wallace started from two partially concurring hypotheses based on the combination of the theory of natural selection and the theory of sexual selection, and they ended up holding two divergent views on the coloration of animals. One of their points disagreement lies in Wallace’s reflections on the human beings’ place in nature, which accompanied his first publications on the coloration of animals.