Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Plural form of
exaptation .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word exaptations.
Examples
-
I have come to think of all of the characteristics of living organisms as exaptations.
-
I have come to think of all of the characteristics of living organisms as exaptations.
-
More people need to be familiar with exaptations and neutralism … adaptation is not the only possibility.
-
The adaptations of today were the byproducts and exaptations (to use a bit of evolutionary jargon) of past ages.
David Sloan Wilson: Atheism as a Stealth Religion IV: The Transformation of the Obvious 2008
-
It is further telling than when new morphological features arise in species (such as the inner ear bones in mammals) they are regularly co-opted existing features - exaptations in the language of Gould and Vrba (1982).
Pharyngula 2009
-
I’m familiar with preadaptations Gould calls them exaptations where genes are “inherited” by a species before they are actually adapted to some new purpose, but these genes historically served some other entirely useful purpose.
Catholic Church Supports Neo-Paleyism? - The Panda's Thumb 2005
-
I’ve read Gould’s rather extensive treatment of spandrels and exaptations.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.