Neoteny
Neoteny
Neoteny (), also called juvenilization, is the delaying or slowing of the physiological, or somatic), development of an organism, typically an animal. Neoteny in modern humans is more significant than in other primates. In progenesis or paedogenesis, sexual development is accelerated.
Neoteny
Both neoteny and progenesis result in paedomorphism (as having the form typical of children) or paedomorphosis (changing towards forms typical of children), a type of heterochrony. It is the retention in adults of traits previously seen only in the young. Such retention is important in evolutionary biology, domestication, and evolutionary developmental biology. Some authors define paedomorphism as the retention of larval traits, as seen in salamanders.
History and etymology
!Diagram of the six types of shift in [heterochrony, a change in the timing or rate of any process in embryonic development. Predisplacement, hypermorphosis, and acceleration (red) extend development (peramorphosis); postdisplacement, hypomorphosis, and deceleration (blue) all truncate it (paedomorphosis).](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Heterochrony.svg/500px-Heterochrony.svg.png)
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