Table of Contents
What is Paedomorphosis?
Paedomorphosis is the retention of juvenile characteristics in an adult organism. This can be seen in humans when adults retain baby-like facial features, such as large eyes and a small nose. It can also be seen in animals when adults retain juvenile coloring or when they are smaller in size than their adult counterparts.
Heterochrony
is a process that alters the rate of development in an organism. This can result in changes to the size, shape, or timing of events during development. Heterochrony can be caused by many different factors, including changes in the environment, changes in the availability of food, or changes in the way the organism is being used.
One example of heterochrony is neoteny. Neoteny is the process of retaining juvenile features in an adult organism. This can happen when the adult organism is exposed to different environmental conditions than the juvenile organism. For example, if a population of animals is living in a hot environment, the adults may become smaller and more streamlined in order to reduce the amount of heat they produce. However, the juveniles may remain larger, because they do not have to worry about producing as much heat. This can lead to the adults becoming more neotenic, or retaining juvenile features, than the juveniles.
History & Etymology About Neoteny
Neoteny (/niːˈɒtəni/; from Greek νέος [neos], “young” and τέννω [tenno], “to stretch”) is the retention of juvenile features in the adult form of a species. It is a process by which an animal or plant takes on some characteristics of its juvenile stage throughout its life.
The word “neoteny” was introduced into English by German biologist Ernst Haeckel in his 1866 work Generelle Morphologie der Organismen. Haeckel was a proponent of the theory of recapitulation, which holds that the embryos of organisms pass through a series of stages representing the adult forms of earlier species. According to recapitulation theory, the retention of juvenile features in adults is a sign of “ontogenetic arrested development”.
Haeckel used the term “neoteny” to describe the retention of juvenile features in adult organisms, and he proposed that it is a key factor in the evolution of species. Haeckel’s ideas on neoteny were later expanded and refined by biologists such as Julian Huxley and Joseph Beattie.
The term “neoteny” has since been used to describe a wide variety of phenomena in a variety of fields, including anthropology, developmental biology, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology.
Paedomorphosis Evolution
Paedomorphosis is a type of evolutionary change in which an animal retains features of its juvenile form into adulthood. This can happen when the animal’s offspring are able to reproduce at a younger age than their parents, and the juvenile features provide an advantage in the new environment. For example, a fish that can reproduce at a young age will have a better chance of survival than one that can’t, so the fish with juvenile features will eventually become the dominant population.
Paedomorphic Vs Overwintering Larval
Forms
Paedomorphic larval forms are those that retain juvenile features into adulthood, while over wintering larval forms are those that metamorphose into adults before winter. Paedomorphic larval forms are generally more advantageous in environments where conditions are stable and there is no need to rapidly adapt to changes in the environment. Overwintering larval forms, on the other hand, are better suited for environments that are highly variable or that undergo frequent changes in conditions.
