tropotaxis

noun

tro·​po·​tax·​is ˌtrō-pə-ˈtak-səs 

ˌträ-

: a taxis in which an organism orients itself by the simultaneous comparison of stimuli of different intensity acting on separate end organs

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German Tropotaxis, from tropo- tropo- + -taxis -taxis

Note: The term was introduced by the German biologist Alfred Kühn (1885-1968) in Die Orientierung der Tiere im Raum (Jena, 1919), pp. 9-10: "In der Tropotaxis stellen sie [die meisten frei beweglichen Tiere] sich in einem Reizfelde symmetrisch ein so, dass rechte und linke Seite gleich stark von dem Reiz getroffen werden." ("In tropotaxis they [most freely motile animals] situate themselves in a stimulus field symmetrically, so that the left and right sides are affected by the stimulus with equal strength.")

First Known Use

1926, in the meaning defined above