apomorphic Applied to an evolutionarily advanced character state. The long neck of the giraffe is apomorphic; the short neck of its ancestor is plesiomorphic. Apomorphic features are those possessed by a group of biological organisms that distinguish those organisms from others descended from the same ancestor. The term is taken from the Greek apo, ‘from’ or ‘away’, and morphe, ‘form’, and means ‘new-featured’. It refers to ‘derived’ characters which have appeared during the course of evolution. Apomorphic features may be autapomorphic (uniquely derived) or synapomorphic (shared-derived). Apomorphic is the opposite of plesiomorphic.

apomorph(adj.apomorphic) An evolutionarily advanced (‘derived’) character state (the opposite of plesiomorph) that is possessed by a group of biological organisms and distinguishes those organisms from others descended from the same ancestor. The long neck of the giraffe is apomorphic; the short neck of its ancestor is plesiomorphic. Apomorphic features may be autapomorphic (uniquely derived) or synapomorphic (derived and present in more than one group of organisms). The term means ‘new-featured’ and refers to ‘derived’ characters which have appeared during the course of evolution.

apomorph Evolutionarily advanced (‘derived’) character state. The long neck of the giraffe is apomorphic; the short neck of its ancestor is plesiomorphic.

apomorphic Applied to features possessed by a group of biological organisms that distinguish those organisms from others descended from the same ancestor. The term means ‘new-featured’ and refers to ‘derived’ characters which have appeared during the course of evolution.

apomorphic Applied to features possessed by a group of biological organisms that distinguish those organisms from others descended from the same ancestor. The term means ‘new-featured’ and refers to ‘derived’ characters that have appeared during the course of evolution.