allopatric
Americanadjective
adjective
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Occurring in separate, nonoverlapping geographic areas. Allopatric populations of related organisms are unable to interbreed because of geographic separation.
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◆ The development of new species as a result of the geographic separation of populations is called allopatric speciation.
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Compare sympatric
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of allopatric
1940–45; allo- + Greek patr ( ía ) fatherland ( patḗr father + -ia noun suffix) + -ic
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Vocabulary lists containing allopatric
Animals (Zoology) - Middle School
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Evolutionary Biology - High School
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Animals (Zoology) - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Biologists group allopatric processes into two categories: dispersal and vicariance.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Scientists have documented numerous cases of allopatric speciation taking place.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
The students suggested these factors: natural selection, morphological mutations, punctuated equilibrium and allopatric speciation.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 20, 2022
Perhaps the title should have something to do with allopatric speciation as well as just the numbers of the pigeons.
From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2017
The data are insufficient to determine geographic variation in the calls and to determine if differences in the calls are enhanced in areas of sympatry as compared with the allopatric parts of the ranges.
From Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Smilisca by Duellman, William E.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
