paleospecies

English

Alternative forms

• palaeospecies

Noun

paleospecies (plural paleospecies)

1. (taxonomy, paleontology) A species that is derived from the paleontological record; chronospecies.
   • 1996, Donald E. Johanson, Donald C. Johanson, Blake Edgar, From Lucy to Language:

     The problem of recognizing paleospecies is linked to a more fundamental problem in taxonomy —determining how species should be segregated.

   • 2001, Alan H. Cheetham, Jeremy B. C. Jackson, Scott Lidgard, Evolutionary Patterns, page 197:

     Similarly, my main source for confidence about paleospecies arises from proven correspondences with true biospecies in favorable cases providing sufficient information for such a test (particularly when species with lengthy fossil records are still extant).

   • 2009, Stephen Jay Gould, Punctuated Equilibrium, page 64:

     I do not, of course, argue that all named paleospecies are true biospecies, or that I can even estimate the percentage properly so defined (any more than we know the relative frequency of modern taxa that represent true biospecies).