assortative mating

Noun

 * 1)  Between males and females of a species, the mutual attraction or selection, for reproductive purposes, of individuals with similar characteristics.
 * 2) * 1922, Frank A. Hartman, "The Emergency Function of the Adrenal," Science, New Series, vol. 56, no. 1440, p. 146:
 * Underlying all distributions of characters in assortative matings are certain elementary principles based on probabilities and the theory of sampling.

Translations

 * Russian: ассортативное спаривание, ассортативное скрещивание