zootype

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From zoo- +‎ type. In the biological sense, by analogy with phylotype.

Noun[edit]

zootype (plural zootypes)

  1. (biology) A proposed archetype of the form of all animals, based not on a shared body plan but on conserved molecular homologies.
  2. (symbology) An animal totem; an animal (or animal figure) that is taken as symbolic of a deeper abstraction.