speciation

noun

spe·​ci·​a·​tion ˌspē-shē-ˈā-shən 

-sē-

: the process of biological species formation

speciate

ˈspē-shē-ˌāt 

-sē-

intransitive verb

speciational

ˌspē-shē-ˈā-shnəl 

-sē-

-shə-nᵊl

adjective

Examples of speciation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Dietary adaptation and flexibility was likely also a driver of speciation, especially near the end of the Neogene period about 3 million years ago, as was geographic distribution and dental morphologies, the authors said. —Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 24 July 2024

While fossil records hold clues on how speciation and extinction have influenced ecosystem turnover throughout millennia, the impacts proved difficult to model before the emergence of AI, the researchers sad. —Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 24 July 2024

Skip to content The Past The simulation gave researchers some of the first concrete data linking climate change to human evolution and speciation. —Big Think, 24 June 2024

During this speciation event, two ancestral chromosomes may have converged to form what is now chromosome 2 in modern humans. —Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 31 Aug. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

speciation

noun

spe·​ci·​a·​tion ˌspē-shē-ˈā-shən 

-sē-

: the formation of a new species (as that occurring as a result of isolation in a geographic area)