polytypic
Americanadjective
adjective
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existing in, consisting of, or incorporating several different types or forms
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biology (of a taxonomic group) having many subdivisions, esp (of a species) having many subspecies and geographical races
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Having several variant forms, especially containing more than one taxonomic category of the next lower rank. A polytypic genus contains two or more different species, while a polytypic species consists of two or more subspecies.
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Compare monotypic
Etymology
Origin of polytypic
First recorded in 1885–90; poly- + type ( def. ) + -ic ( def. )
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.
Put together, Mayr said, these various practical and theoretical considerations dictated that every one of the human fossils known should be placed within a single evolving polytypic lineage.
From Scientific American • Jun. 12, 2015
For it was the decidedly expressed opinion of Darwin that natural selection is competent to effect polytypic, or divergent, evolution.
From Darwin, and After Darwin (Vol 3 of 3) Post-Darwinian Questions: Isolation and Physiological Selection by Romanes, George John
For I take them to indicate a continued failure to perceive the all-important distinction between evolution as monotypic and polytypic.
From Darwin, and After Darwin (Vol 3 of 3) Post-Darwinian Questions: Isolation and Physiological Selection by Romanes, George John
In order to secure polytypic evolution, intercrossing between the different beneficial variants which may arise must be prevented; and there is nothing to prevent such intercrossing in the process of natural selection per se.
From Darwin, and After Darwin (Vol 3 of 3) Post-Darwinian Questions: Isolation and Physiological Selection by Romanes, George John
Had he gone a step further, he must have seen that separation, in some form or another, is "indispensable" to polytypic evolution.
From Darwin, and After Darwin (Vol 3 of 3) Post-Darwinian Questions: Isolation and Physiological Selection by Romanes, George John
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.
