hopeful monster

noun

, Biology.

1. a hypothetical individual organism that, by means of a fortuitous macromutation permitting an adaptive shift to a new mode of life, becomes the founder of a new type of organism and a vehicle of macroevolution.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hopeful monster¹

First recorded in 1933; phrase introduced by German geneticist Richard B. Goldschmidt (1879–1958)