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hopeful monster

hopeful monster

 
noun Biology.
a hypothetical individual organism that, by means of a fortuitous macromutation permitting an adaptive shift to a new mode of life, becomes the founder of a new type of organism and a vehicle of macroevolution.
Origin:
1933; phrase introduced by German geneticist Richard B. Goldschmidt (1879–1958)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Hopeful monster is always a great word to know.
So is species. Does it mean:
a microscopic structure containing nuclear and cytoplasmic material enclosed by a semipermeable membrane, the basic structural unit of all organisms
the basic category of biological classification, composed of individuals that resemble one another are able to breed with one another
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