Meanings
alternative palaeospecies
- biologyA species that is derived from the paleontological record; chronospecies.
The problem of recognizing paleospecies is linked to a more fundamental problem in taxonomy —determining how species should be segregated.
1996, Donald E. Johanson, Donald C. Johanson, Blake Edgar, From Lucy to Language2 more examples
Similarly, my main source for confidence about paleospecies arises from proven correspondences with true biospecies in favorable cases providing sufficient information for such a test (particularly when species with lengthy fossil records are still extant).
2001, Alan H. Cheetham, Jeremy B. C. Jackson, Scott Lidgard, Evolutionary Patterns, page 197I do not, of course, argue that all named paleospecies are true biospecies, or that I can even estimate the percentage properly so defined (any more than we know the relative frequency of modern taxa that represent true biospecies).
2009, Stephen Jay Gould, Punctuated Equilibrium, page 64
Cite this entry
paleospecies. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paleospecies
“paleospecies.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paleospecies. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “paleospecies,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/paleospecies.
Source: paleospecies on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.