Néoténie
The néoténie described, in Biology of the development, conservation of youthful characteristics in the adults of one, or the fact of still reaching sexual maturity by an organization at the larval stage. These phenomena are rather observed at Amphibien S and Insecte S, for which one speaks about pedogenesis.
The most known example is the Axolotl; one even sometimes believed to deal with two species whereas they were larvae reproducing without to have reached the adulthood.
It is about a particular case of Hétérochronie.
Etymology
The term néoténie was proposed by the biologist Kollmann in several articles written in 1883 and published in 1884 or 1885. The word is the juxtaposition of the prefix neo , meaning new, and of the Greek teinein , meaning to extend.
Néoténie in the broad sense
This idea was applied to Human which has common characteristics with young primates (Louis Bolk in the years 1920-1930, then more recently by Stephen Jay Gould). According to this approach, the brain-pan not welded with the birth, the absence of pilosity of the baby or the weakness of the muscular apparatus are marks of néoténie. The importance of the néoténie for human biology was studied by Desmond Morris (for example in his very famous work: the naked monkey), in particular to explain the desirability of the youthful characters at the woman (see sexual Attraction).In addition, one distinguishes in the animals a tendency to conservation from youthful natures at the time of the Domestication. For example, the dogs stir up the tail and bark as the wolf cubs do it, but preserve this behavior all their life whereas the wolves give up it at the adulthood.
Konrad Lorenz in " psychology and phylogénèse" evoke the human néoténie. It connects it to its curiosity and its opening to the world and its despecialisation. They make a curious being not specialized of it.
Notice
The existence of the néoténie recalls that one should not too literally take the expression of Carl von Baer according to which “the Morphogenèse (i.e. the development of the embryo) reproduced the Phylogenèse (i.e. history of the species)”. This expression is about true overall, but cease to be it if one goes down on the level from the detail, because in the event of néoténie the Information Génétique ordering the possible later development of the Embryon is not expressed, and the correspondence is thus not observed.
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