BioConcepts

phyletic evolutionPhyletische Evolution (ger.)

• Evolutionary change within a lineage, as a result of gradual adjustment to environmental stimuli. (Oxford Dict. of Zoology 2009)
  category evolution

  1944

  Phyletic evolution is here so called because it is dominant in the pattern of more or less linear, or better »path-like,« evolution of most phyla as they are seen by the paleontologist.

  Simpson, G.G. (1944). Tempo and Mode in Evolution: 198-9. 

  1972

  Paleontology’s view of speciation has been dominated by the picture of »phyletic gradualism.« It holds that new species arise from slow and steady transformation of entire populations.

  Eldredge, N. & Gould, S. (1972). Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism. In: Schopf, T. (ed.). Models in Paleobiology, 82-115: 84.