You searched for: “saltatory evolution”
saltatory evolution (s) (noun), saltatory evolutions (pl)
The appearance of a sudden change within a species, caused by mutation: Saltatory evolution involves the progression of a species by sudden major changes rather than by the gradual accumulation of minor changes.

The phenomena of saltatory evolutions occur predominantly in plants as a result of having one or more extra sets of chromosomes or DNA that are encoded with genes and structural proteins.

This entry is located in the following units: -ation, -ization (-iz[e] + -ation); -isation (British spelling variation) (page 83) sali-, salt-, -sili-, sult-, -salta- (page 4)