paedomorphy
English edit
Alternative forms edit
- pedomorphy (US)
Etymology edit
From paedo- + -morphy, after paedomorphic.
Noun edit
paedomorphy (uncountable)
- The retention or emergence of juvenile characteristics in an adult organism.
- 2006, Alan R Templeton, Population Genetics and Microevolutionary Theory, page 481:
- The clade 4-1 salamanders recently lived in environments that would make paedomorphy unlikely, but now even when they are living in large, permanent ponds that induce paedomorphy in clade 4-2 salamanders, they are incapable of becoming paedomorphs.
- 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 744:
- Richard Wrangham has noted that the domestication of animals usually tames them by slowing down components of the developmental timetable to retain juvenile traits into adulthood, a process called pedomorphy or neoteny.