island dwarf

English

Noun

island dwarf (plural island dwarfs)

1. An island-dwelling organism that has become smaller than its mainland counterparts; an organism that has undergone island dwarfism.
   • 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 208:

     Wrangel lies 140 kilometres north of the Siberian mainland and is 7600 square kilometres in extent. Its mammoths were island dwarfs.