Morphotype
morphotype (pl. morphotypes; short form: sl. morph, pl. morphs) – an informal group of taxa with similar or identical morphology; often preferred to describe morphological variation within a species, especially if a formal description as a variety appears not strongly supported or premature. – OR – A characteristic morphological form of an organism or a particular group of organisms; frequently used as informal category to denote a subset of organisms that belongs to the same species and can be recognized by a characteristic, shared morphology. The morphotype (or short: morph) is often used to avoid formal taxonomic recognition of a group as subspecies, variety or form. Any morphotype essentially represents an entirely arbitrary group as long as the reason for the shared morphology remains unknown. However, morphotypes are generally recognized under the assumption that they represent a particularly adapted group, i. e., a population or morphodeme might share the same morphology as an adaptation to a particular habitat or microhabitat.
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