phylogeronticadj.
/ˌfʌɪlə(ʊ)dʒəˈrɒntɪk/, U.S. /ˈˌfaɪloʊdʒəˈrɑn(t)ɪk/ Biology. Now chiefly historical.
Of or relating to a late stage in the evolutionary history of a group of organisms.
ΚΠ
1893 Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 26 90 The oldest stages of different individuals of a species, and the corresponding phylogerontic types of different groups arising from the same common ancestor, resemble each other.
1902 Amer. Naturalist 36 940 Phylogerontic types in which the power of coiling has been lost after the completion of the protoconch stage.
1937 Amer. Midland Naturalist 18 1099 Secondary blinding was a tendency of the entire group, appearing as a phylogerontic characteristic in its various branches.
1989 P. J. Bowler in J. R. Moore Hist., Humanity & Evolution xi. 341 He [sc. Hyatt] suggested that a number of human characters are already 'phylogerontic', indicating that our species is already beginning to move into its senile phase.
Derivatives
phylogeˈrontism n. now rare the state or condition of a group of organisms that is in a late stage of evolutionary development.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > [noun] > stages of evolution
phylogerontism1902
stasigenesis1957
1902 Amer. Naturalist 36 940 In the majority of specialized gastropods phylogerontism is expressed, not in the non-coiling of the last portion of the spire, but in its expansion and wrapping about the earlier whorls.
1949 Evolution 3 104/1 There certainly is no indication, in the present state of knowledge, that phyletic growth leads to phylogerontism and ‘causes’ racial extinction.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1893