heterochrony

[het-uh-rok-ruh-nee]

noun

Biology.

1. a genetic shift in timing of the development of a tissue or anatomical part, or in the onset of a physiological process, relative to an ancestor.

heterochrony

1. A change in the timing or duration of an organism's ontogenetic development compared with an ancestral species, resulting in morphological differences between ancestor and descendant.

Other Word Forms

• heterochronic adjective
• heterochronistic adjective
• heterochronous adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of heterochrony¹

1875–80; hetero- + chron- + -y ³; compare German Heterochron

Example Sentences

Complex heterochrony underlies the evolution of Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodite sex allocation.

Read more on Nature

The different ways some parts of us seem to accelerate and mature while others bide their time or halt altogether has generated a flock of terms related to neoteny—paedomorphosis, heterochrony, progenesis, hypermorphosis, and recapitulation.

Read more on Scientific American

Evolution of craniofacial novelty in parrots through developmental modularity and heterochrony.

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Heterochrony: an irregular development in point of time, a later stage becoming evident before one that is earlier in ordinary course.

Read more on Project Gutenberg