micromorphn.adj.
/ˈmʌɪkrə(ʊ)mɔːf/, U.S. /ˈmaɪkroʊˌmɔrf/, /ˈmaɪkrəˌmɔrf/ Palaeontology and Botany.
A. n.
A small, or relatively small, form or variety of an organism; (Botany) a true-breeding small variant of a species.
ΚΠ
1888 W. H. Hudleston Brit. Jurassic Gasteropoda 112, in Palæontgr. Soc. Monogr. 1887 41 Micromorphs..occur..in many parts of the Inferior Oolite.
1938 Amer. Midland Naturalist 19 491 Not only Linnaean aggregate species, but mere micromorphs are apparently static.
1978 Ann. Missouri Bot. Garden 65 218 Certain species are, from all evidence, recently evolved micromorphs.
1990 Watsonia 18 81 True-breeding miniature variants (‘micromorphs’) are known in a number of the microspecies of Rubus fruticosus L. agg... They are especially characteristic of scrubby heathland, to which they are presumably an ecotypic adaptation.
B. adj.
Designating a fossil fauna consisting of micromorphs.
ΚΠ
1978 Jrnl. Paleontol. 52 1294/1 The fauna has been categorized as micromorph..because of the presence of small ammonoids.
1986 Jrnl. Paleontol. 60 736/1 Each formation yields a micromorph fauna consisting of small brachiopods, echinoderms and other fossils.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1888