>From that perspective, the headline reads "Signs of health and longevity determine whether men romantically desire or dismiss high status women", which sounds like a common mating strategy throughout the animal kingdom.

No, read the abstract.

>As predicted, a meta-analysis across all three experiments revealed that higher (vs. lower) status decreased men's attraction to moderately-attractive women (d = -0.20), whereas higher (vs. lower) status increased men's attraction to highly-attractive women (d = 0.47).

"Men like beautiful women because they want healthy offsprings" doesn't explain why the response is different depending on status.

No the study is saying for moderately attractive women, the higher the status, the less attractive they become for men. "experiments revealed that higher (vs. lower) status decreased men's attraction to moderately-attractive women (d = -0.20)"

But for highly attractive women, the higher the status, the more attractive they become for men. "whereas higher (vs. lower) status increased men's attraction to highly-attractive women (d = 0.47)."

In other words, if you are a highly attractive women, you increase your desirability by increasing your status. If you are "moderately attractive women", you decrease your desirability by increasing your status.