Glossary
- A PRIORI
- Known though reasoning and/or intuition along, independently of
physical evidence.
- AGNATHAN
- A jawless vertebrate.
- AMORPHOUS
- Formless, without easily-defined shape.
- ALTRUISM
- Unselfishness.
- ANOMALOUS
- Not in accordance with normal expections.
- ANTERIOR
- Forward; front.
- ANTERO-POSTERIOR
- Front-to-back.
- APPENDICULAR
- Pertaining to appendages, particularly the limbs of animals.
- ARCHETYPE
- A fundamental original pattern.
- ARTICULATION
- A joint or jointed part.
- ARTHROPOD
- An invertebrate animal with a segmented trunk and, in many cases,
segmented limbs.
- ASSIMILATE
- To ingest and absorb; to eat.
- ATAVISM
- A throwback; reoccurrence of features normally no longer evident in a lineage.
- AUDITORY
- Pertaining to hearing or hearing organs.
- AXIAL
- Forming an axis; pertain to a main axis or trunk.
- BILATERAL
- Two-sided; pertaining to both sides.
- BIOGENETIC LAW
- A theory maintaining that embryonic development parallels evolutionary
development, aka recapitulation theory.
- BIOTA
- Living things; the totality of animal and plant life of a realm.
- BISERIAL
- Arranged in a linear sequence of pairs.
- CAMBRIAN
- Pertaining to or appearing in the period from 570 million to 500
million years ago.
- CAMBRIAN BOOM
- The period of explosive evolutionary development over 500
million years ago, during which the major types of animals appeared.
- CARAPACE
- The shell or armor covering the back of various animals.
- CARTILAGE
- A structural or skeletal animal tissue, softer and more flexible than bone.
- CHORDATE
- An animal having a notochord, or primitive spinal structure, at some stage
of development; a member of the phylum Chordata, such as a vertebrate.
- CHROMOSOME
- Bodies within the cell which are composed of DNA.
- CLADISTICS
- The science of evolutionary genealogy.
- COELACANTH
- A type of fish, nearly extinct, noted for its lobe-fins,
fins with a long limb-like base, intermediate in form between typical fins and the
limbs of land animals. (pronounced see-la-canth).
- COELOM
- The main body cavity of metazoans, enclosing most major organs.
(pronounced see-lom).
- COLONIAL ORGANISM
- An organism consisting of separate yet interdependent component
organisms.
- CONCATENATION
- A linked series; a chain of elements.
- CONJUNCTIVE
- Connective; connecting.
- CONVERGENCE
- In evolutionary biology, the independent formation of similar
characteristics in different lineages.
- CRANIAL
- Pertaining to the skull.
- CREATIONISM
- The belief that the origin and nature of life should be explained
by reference to a supernatural agent.
- CROSSOPTERYGIAN
- A lobe-finned fish such as a coelacanth.
- DEISM
- The belief that the world was created and set in motion by a
supernatural agent which subsequently does not intervene.
- DEVELOPMENT
- The process of growth producing the adult organism, including
embryonic growth.
- DIFFERENTIATION
- Process of becoming different, distinct, or discrete.
- DISCRETE
- Distinct; separate.
- DIPLODOCUS
- A large dinosaur with a long neck and a long tail.
- DISTAL
- Distant; outward; farthest from the center.
- DNA
- Deoxyribonucleic acid; the material of the chromosomes. DNA molecules
are long chains; genetic information is encoded in the ordering of the elements of
these molecules.
- DORSAL
- Pertaining to the back.
- ECOLOGY
- The study of the economy of nature, the interactions of organisms
with one another and with the inorganic environment.
- ECOSYSTEM
- A complex of interdependent organisms and inorganic components.
- EDIACARAN
- Pertaining to an ancient multicellular fauna existing prior to
the Cambrian boom.
- EMBRYO
- An organism in early stages of development or growth.
- EMPIRICAL
- Pertaining to facts gained through sense perception.
- ENDOMITOSIS
- Multiplication of chromosomes without division of the nucleus
and reproduction of the cell.
- ENDOSKELETON
- An internal skeleton.
- EQUINE
- Pertaining to horses.
- ETHOLOGY
- The science of animal behavioR.
- EXOSKELETON
- An external skeleton.
- EXTRAPOLATION
- Estimation of data beyond the range of what is known by
assuming continuation of trends or patterns within known data.
- FAUNA
- Animals; animal life.
- FINITUDE
- Limitation; exhaustibility.
- FLEXURE
- Folding or bending.
- GENE
- A unit of inheritance; an hereditary factor.
- GENETIC
- Pertaining to heredity and variation.
- GENETICS
- The science of heredity and variation.
- GENOME
- The genetic information of an organism; its chromosomes.
- GENOTYPE
- The genetic information of an organism, in contrast to phenotype,
the actual organism developing in accordance with the genotype.
- GIRDLE
- The anchoring and supporting bones linking vertebrate limbs to
the trunk.
- GNATHOSTOME
- A vertebrate with jaws.
- HETEROCHRONY
- Change in the relative timing of aspects of development.
- HETEROGENEOUS
- Variegated; composed of differing parts.
- HEURISTIC
- Pertaining to, or helping in, discovery.
- HERITABLE
- Capable of being inherited.
- HOMOLOGY
- Similarity due to common ancestry.
- HYBRID
- Offspring of parents of different species or varieties.
- INCIPIENCE
- Beginning.
- INGESTION
- Eating; assimilation.
- INTEGRATION
- Unification.
- LANCELET
- A simple fishlike animal.
- LARVA
- An early stage of growth which differs markedly from the adult.
- LIMB BUD
- The early embryonic form of the vertebrate limb.
- LONGITUDINAL
- Lengthwise; along the main axis.
- LUNGFISH
- A family of fishes having both gills and lungs.
- MELANOCYTE
- A cell producing pigmentation.
- METAZOAN
- A multicellular organism.
- MICROMUTATION
- A slight change in the heritable nature of a species.
- MINUTIAE
- Particulars; details.
- MITOSIS
- The multiplication of chromosomes and splitting of the nucleus
which culminates in cell division.
- MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
- The study of life at the molecular level, particularly
the study of DNA.
- MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
- Evolutionary change at the molecular level,
especially regular gradual change in DNA which may indicate the relative
timing of genealogical divergences.
- MOLLUSK
- An invertebrate animal such as a snail or shellfish.
- MORPHOLOGY
- The study of the form and structure of organisms; or,
the form itself.
- MUTATION
- A change in offspring of a species; in evolutionary biology,
only heritable mutations are of interest.
- NASCENT
- Newly born, with a propensity for immediate interactivity,
change, or growth.
- NEOTENY
- The attainment of adulthood (sexual maturity) while
retaining some normally juveile features, through truncation of ontogeny.
- NUCLEUS
- A distinct body within the cells of metazoans and most plants,
the fission of which initiates cell division. the nucleus contains the chromosomes.
- ONTOGENY
- The development or growth of an organism, particularly as an embryo.
- ORGANELLE
- Any specialized organ within the cell.
- OSSICLE
- A small bone such as exists in the inner ear of some vertebrates.
- PAEDOMORPHOSIS
- Adulthood and sexual maturity attained with retention of
juvenile features, through alteration of normal ontogeny.
- PALEOZOIC
- Pertaining to or existing in the Paleozoic era, from 570 to 240
million years ago.
- PARABIOSIS
- Siamese-twinning; life side-by-side; the physical joining of
organisms through natural mutation or experimental procedures.
- PARADIGM
- A general idea, model, or pattern.
- PARALLELISM
- In evolutionary biology, similar paths of evolutionary development
in lineages of common ancestry.
- PECTORAL
- Pertaining to the chest or the anterior paired limbs of vertebrates.
- PELVIC
- Pertaining to the skeletal structure supporting the posterior paired
limbs of vertebrates.
- PHENOTYPE
- The actual apparent organism, in contrast to the genotype, the
genetic information upon which the phenotype is based.
- PHYLOGENY
- Evolutionary history; genealogy of species.
- PHYLUM
- A fundamental division or category of animals or plants.
- PINCERS
- A grasping organ.
- POLYDACTYLY
- Condition of having more fingers or toes than normal.
- POPULATION GENETICS
- The study of the movements and effects of genes
within populations and gene pools.
- POSTERIOR
- Located toward the rear.
- PREADAPTATION
- The suitability of an existing feature for a new use.
- PRIMITIVE
- In evolutionary biology, this term often means ancestral or
genealogicaly prior, yet sometimes it means simple or crude. Under a
simple-to-complex evolutionary paradigm, the two senses are often confused.
- PROCRUSTEAN
- Suggestive of Procrustes, a Greek mythological figure who
enforced conformity.
- PROGENITOR
- Direct ancestor.
- PROTO
- Prefix: first; preliminary; original.
- PRIMATE
- A member of the order of mammals which includes lemurs, monkeys, and man.
- PROXIMAL
- Near; inward; closest to the center.
- PTERODACTYL
- An extinct winged reptile.
- RADIAL
- A ray, bone, or chain of bones projecting from a central point or axis.
- RANDOM
- Haphazard; not determined by any known pattern.
- RAY
- A supportive spine of a fin, typically numerous and composed of cartilage.
- RECAPITULATION
- The appearance of structures during development which are no
longer present in the adult; or, the theory that embryonic growth directly illustrates
evolutionary history.
- RHIPIDISTIAN
- An ancient reptile.
- SCENARIO
- Outline, plan, or synopsis.
- SECRETE
- To produce and give off a substance.
- SEGMENTATION
- The condition of being divided into distinct segments.
- SERIAL HOMOLOGY
- Condition in which homologous structures (structures which
are similar due to common ancestry) are arranged in linear order, forming a chain of
segments.
- SOMITE
- A body segment; especially, in vertebrates, a segment in the early embryo.
- STASIS
- Stability; changelessness.
- SYMBIOTIC
- Pertaining to dependence or interdependence between different organisms.
- SYMMETRY
- Equality in size and form between parts; correspondence or repetition of
a pattern between or within structures within an organism.
- TAXONOMY
- The science of classification of organisms.
- TETRAPOD
- A terrestrial vertebrate with four limbs.
- TRILOBITE
- An extinct crustacean of the subphylum trilobitomorpha.
- TRUNCATE
- To shorten; to cut off.
- TUNICATE
- An invertebrate animal of the subphylum Urochordata.
- VERTEBRA
- (plural VERTEBRAE). A segment or bone of the spinal column.
- VERTEBRATE
- An animal with a segmented spinal column; a member of the
subphylum Vertebrata.
- VESTIGE
- A degenerate structure; a remnant or trace.
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