BioConcepts

wild typetype sauvage (fr.); Wildtyp (ger.)

• The type of strain, gene, or characteristic that prevails among individuals in natural conditions, as opposed to an atypical mutant type. (OED 2011)
  category gene

  1791

  il suffit de remarquer que les variétés cultivées ne diffèrent du type sauvage que par leurs racines plus grosses & plus charnues

  Reynier (1791). Carote. Encyclopédie méthodique, Agriculture, vol. 2: 748-759: 749

  1809

  Sanglier. C’est le type sauvage du cochon domestique.

  Bosc (1809). Sanglier. In: Nouveau cours complet d’agriculture théorique et pratique, vol. 11, 355-356: 355.

  1809

  Selon le vœu de la nature, les bêtes à cornes, qui sont indigénes à l’Europe, mais dont le type sauvage est aujourd’hui perdu

  Tessier, H.-A. (1809). Bêtes à cornes. In: Nouveau cours complet d’agriculture théorique et pratique, vol. 3, 271-274: 273.

  1823

  This third race of Turnips appears to be the wild type of the species, or at least is very near to a wild state

  De Candolle, A.P. (1823). Memoir on the different species, races, and varieties of the Genus Brassica (Cabbage), and of the genera allied to it, which are cultivated in Europe (Conclusion). The Philosophical Magazine and Journal 61, 181-197: 186.

  1827

  En réfléchissant sur ce point, on voit naître le doute, qu’une comparaison établie entre nos chats de maisons et ce type sauvage tend à fortifier.

  Temminck, C.J. (1827). Monographies de mammalogie, vol. 1: 76.

  1833

  the height of the races or varieties cannot be different from that of the wild type

  Saint-Hilaire, E.G. (1833). On Dwarfs and Giants. Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal 15, 142-151: 148.

  1833

  the consideration of this point gives rise to a doubt, which a comparison between our house cat and this, its supposed wild type, tends to strengthen.

  Anonymus (transl.) (1833). On the original source of the domestic cat. [Translated from Temminck’s Monographies de mammalogie, vol. I: 76]. Zoological Magazine, or Journal of Natural History 1833, 165-167: 166.

  1836-37

  Continued domesticity causes still further changes ; and the third generation is produced yet further removed from the wild type.

  Anonymus (1836-37). [Rev. Sebright, J.S. (1836). Observations upon the Instinct of Animals]. The Phrenological Journal and Miscellany, 377-379: 378. Continued domesticity causes still further changes ; and the third generation is produced yet further removed from the wild type.

  1840

  Probably, in Persia, the native country of the Peach, that species, or its wild type the Almond, is the best stock for the former fruit

  Lindley, J. (1840). The Theory of Horticulture; or, an Attempt to Explain the Principal Operations of Gardening upon Physiological Principles: 239.

  1860

  Continued cultivation under artificial selection would of course force some of these results to an extreme never reached in nature, giving to long-cultivated varieties a character of their own. Yet they may not deviate more widely from the wild type than do some of the wild varieties of many plants of wide geographical range.

  Gray, A. (1860). [Statement on the Monthly Meeting on April 10]. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 4, 411-415: 412

  1860

  the skeleton of the wings in domestic pigeons has hardly varied at all from that of the wild type

  [Huxley, T.H.] (1860). Darwin on the origin of Species. Westminster Review, 17, 541-570: 551.

  1867

  We were completely in the dark with respect to the extinct wild type from which the numerous European breeds [of sheep] with horns describing a second spiral curvature in the mature ram, and invariably born with a long tail, may be presumed to have descended

  Westropp, H.W. (1867). On the sequence of the phases of civilisation, and contemporaneous implements. Journal of the Anthropological Society of London 5, cxcii-cc: cxcix.

  1901

  Quite as definitely did Wallace state the same proposition in controverting the somewhat more narrowly static idea that the variations of species are limited, as it were, to fixed points beyond which they cannot go in nature, or to which they must return if differentiated from the wild type by artificial selection.

  Cook, O.F. (1901). A kinetic theory of evolution. Science 13, 969-978: 973.

  1902

  Only by cross-fertilization can O. lata produce seeds, and so it is unfit to found a wild type.

  de Vries, H. (1902). The origin of species by mutation. Science 15, 721-729: 727.

  1924

  Der wichtigste Wildtyp ist Rosa multiflora (R. thyrsiflora, R.Wichurae), die Vielblumige Rose.

  Mütze, W. & Schneider, C. (1924). Das Rosenbuch: 59.

  1925

  Bespricht kurz und zusammenfassend Rassenmerkmale und Vererbungsverhältnisse bei verschiedenen Kaninchen: Albino, Himalaya, Chinchilla, Wildtyp, Wiener, gelbem Chinchilla, Holländer, geschecktem englischen und französischem Silberkaninchen.

  Alverdes, F. (1925). [Rev. Castle, W.E. (1924). Some varieties of white rabbits. J. Heredity 15a, 211-219]. Zool. Bericht 5, 200.

  1982

  wild type The natural or typical form of an organism, strain or gene, arbitrarily designated as standard or normal for comparison with mutant or aberrant individuals or alleles.

  Lincoln, R.J., Boxshall, G.A. & Clark, P.F. (1982). A Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics: 262.