phyletic

American  

[fahy-let-ik] / faɪˈlɛt ɪk /

adjective

Biology.

1. of, relating to, or based on the evolutionary history of a group of organisms; phylogenetic.

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phyletic British  

/ ˌfaɪləʊdʒɪˈnɛtɪk, faɪˈlɛtɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to the evolution of a species or group of organisms

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Other Word Forms

• phyletically adjective

Etymology

Origin of phyletic

1880–85; Greek phȳletikós pertaining to a tribesman, equivalent to phȳlét ( ēs ) tribesman (derivative of phȳ́lē phyle ) + -ikos -ic

Example Sentences

Researchers have found striking examples of gift-giving across the phyletic landscape, in insects, spiders, mollusks, birds and mammals.

From New York Times • Dec. 23, 2013

Venoms and repellents are hardly rare in nature: Many insects, frogs, snakes, jellyfish and other phyletic characters use them with abandon.

From New York Times • Jan. 30, 2012

Its primacy is reflected in the phyletic expansion of the temporal openings to permit greater freedom of the muscles during contraction.

From The Adductor Muscles of the Jaw In Some Primitive Reptiles by Fox, Richard C.

These investigations demonstrated that it was possible to follow out step by step in superjacent strata the actual evolution of fossil species and to establish the actual "phyletic series."

From Form and Function A Contribution to the History of Animal Morphology by E. S. (Edward Stuart) Russell

This phyletic line retained the larval characters and breeding call of the prototype.

From Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Smilisca by Duellman, William E.