apomorphy

noun

ap·o·mor·phy | \ ˈa-pə-ˌmȯr-fē

plural apomorphies

Definition of apomorphy

biological taxonomy

: a specialized trait or character that is unique to a group or species : a character state (such as the presence of feathers) not present in an ancestral form In this case, white flowers are a derived condition, an apomorphy, and red flowers are the ancestral condition. —James D. Mauseth, Botany: An Introduction to Plant Biology, 2009

Other words from apomorphy

apomorphic \¦a-pə-¦mȯr-fik

\ or less commonly apomorph \ˈa-pə-ˌmȯrf

\ adjective

As far as possible, it is assumed that each apomorphic evolutionary event only occurred once in the history of each group of related taxa … —C. Barry Cox and Peter D. Moore, Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach, 2010 … such apomorph characters are believed to be found only among the descendants of the ancestor in which the character first occurred. —Ernst Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought, 1982