discontinuous variation

American  

noun

Biology.

1. variation in phenotypic traits in which types are grouped into discrete categories with few or no intermediate phenotypes.

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Example Sentences

Mendel worked instead with traits that show discontinuous variation.

From Textbooks • Apr. 25, 2013

Such a continuous change cannot be explained by a discontinuous variation, i.e. a mutation.

From Hormones and Heredity by Cunningham, J. T.

Suppose that evolution "in the open" had taken place in the same way, by means of discontinuous variation.

From A Critique of the Theory of Evolution by Morgan, Thomas Hunt

As compared with the normal Flat-fish they arise by a discontinuous variation, they are mutations, whereas the normal Flat-fish as compared with its symmetrical ancestor arises by a continuous change.

From Hormones and Heredity by Cunningham, J. T.

The next letter relates to the rising school of biologists who, in opposition to Darwin's views, held that species might arise by what was at the time termed "discontinuous variation."

From Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 2 by Marchant, James