Neoteny

The retention of juvenile or fetal features into adult life. Neoteny entails the maturation of a larva's reproductive capabilities without the accompanying development of its external morphological features. This phenomenon occurs in some aquatic salamanders and is due to delayed somatic development. It is thought to be an important mechanism in evolution, having facilitated certain crucial changes such as the emergence of the first chordates. Modern man has a number of features which seem to be neotenous, at least in relation to the apes and to the kind of common apelike ancestor we are thought to have. Neoteny is one possible mechanism to explain the emergence of modern morphology, perhaps from a Neanderthal-like ancestor.

The retention of juvenile or foetal features of the ancestral body form into adult life, as in the living axolotl, is thought to be an important mechanism in evolution, having facilitated certain crucial changes such as the emergence of the first chordates. Modem man has a number of features which seem to be neotenous, at least in relation to the apes and to the kind of common ape-like ancestor we are thought to have. One possible mechanism to explain the emergence of modem morphology, perhaps from a Neanderthal-like ancestor, is therefore neoteny.