plesiomorphic

views updated May 29 2018

plesiomorphic Applied to a character state that is based on features shared by different groups of biological organisms and inherited from a common ancestor. The term is taken from the Greek plesios, ‘near’, and morphe, ‘form’, and means ‘old-featured’. The features to which it is applied were formerly called ‘primitive’. It is the opposite of apomorphic.

A Dictionary of Zoology MICHAEL ALLABY

plesiomorphic

views updated May 23 2018

plesiomorphic Applied to features that are shared by different groups of biological organisms and are inherited from a common ancestor. The term means ‘old-featured’ and the features to which it is applied were formerly called ‘primitive’.

A Dictionary of Plant Sciences MICHAEL ALLABY

plesiomorphic

views updated May 08 2018

plesiomorphic Applied to features that are shared by different groups of biological organisms and are inherited from a common ancestor. The term means ‘old-featured’ and the features to which it is applied were formerly called ‘primitive’.

A Dictionary of Earth Sciences AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY

plesiomorphic

views updated May 18 2018

plesiomorphic See plesiomorph.

A Dictionary of Ecology MICHAEL ALLABY

More From encyclopedia.com

About this article

plesiomorphic

All Sources -
Updated Aug 08 2016 About encyclopedia.com content Print Topic

You Might Also Like