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Despeciation is the loss of a unique species of animal due to its combining with another previously distinct species. [1] It is the opposite of speciation and is much more rare. It is similar to extinction in that there is a loss of a unique species but without the associated loss of a biological lineage. Despeciation has been noted in species ...
The mediaeval great chain of being as a staircase, implying the possibility of progress: [1] Ramon Lull's Ladder of Ascent and Descent of the Mind, 1305. Alternatives to Darwinian evolution have been proposed by scholars investigating biology to explain signs of evolution and the relatedness of different groups of living things.
This makes some species less conspicuous to predators, while others, such as leopards, use it as a foraging advantage during night hunting. [4] Typically, adaptive melanism is heritable : A dominant allele , which is entirely or nearly entirely expressed in the phenotype , is responsible for the excessive amount of melanin.
The English suffix-mania denotes an obsession with something; a mania.The suffix is used in some medical terms denoting mental disorders.It has also entered standard English and is affixed to many different words to denote enthusiasm or obsession with that subject.
The larval stage of insect development is considered by some to be a form of altricial development, but it more accurately depicts, especially amongst eusocial animals, an independent phase of development, as the larvae of bees, ants, and many arachnids are completely physically different from their developed forms, and the pre-pupal stages of ...
Objections to evolution have been raised since evolutionary ideas came to prominence in the 19th century. When Charles Darwin published his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, his theory of evolution (the idea that species arose through descent with modification from a single common ancestor in a process driven by natural selection) initially met opposition from scientists with different ...
Devolution, de-evolution, or backward evolution (not to be confused with dysgenics) is the notion that species can revert to supposedly more primitive forms over time. The concept relates to the idea that evolution has a divine purpose and is thus progressive (orthogenesis), for example that feet might be better than hooves, or lungs than gills.
The opposite of convergence is divergent evolution, where related species evolve different traits. Convergent evolution is similar to parallel evolution , which occurs when two independent species evolve in the same direction and thus independently acquire similar characteristics; for instance, gliding frogs have evolved in parallel from ...