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ochlospecies

noun

A taxonomic species concept characterized by large amounts of variation that is not correlated with geography or ecology; usually geographically widespread and having variants that may be consistently distinguishable locally but not globally.

Scrabble 21

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Meanings

nounochlospecies (plural ochlospecies)

biologyA taxonomic species concept characterized by large amounts of variation that is not correlated with geography or ecology; usually geographically widespread and having variants that may be consistently distinguishable locally but not globally.
Ochlospecies are usually geographically and ecologically widespread, occurring in several climatic and vegetation zones ('ecological and chorological transgressors' of White ).
1998, Camilla R. Huxley, Chorology, Taxonomy and Ecology of the Floras of Africa and Madagascar
1 more example
The existence of “swarms” of related species or subspecies with near-complete combinations of morphological traits (“ochlospecies”; White 1962, Cronk 1999) may indicate that the terminal phylogenetic structure of some tropical tree lineages may actually be highly reticulate.
2011, Walter Carson, Tropical Forest Community Ecology

Cite this entry

APA

ochlospecies. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ochlospecies

MLA

“ochlospecies.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ochlospecies. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ochlospecies,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ochlospecies.

Source: ochlospecies on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.