polyphenic

English

Adjective

polyphenic (not comparable)

1. (genetics) Having multiple phenotypes that can arise as a result of differing environmental conditions.
   • 2009 February 6, J. Mark Rowland, Douglas J. Emlen, “Two Thresholds, Three Male Forms Result in Facultative Male Trimorphism in Beetles”, in Science‎^[1], volume 323, number 5915, →DOI, pages 773–776:

     Both types of threshold mechanism have been shown to couple horn growth with nutrition in scarab beetles and are considered facultative (polyphenic) regulatory processes, and preliminary evidence suggested that they might sometimes both be present in the same species.

Related terms

• polyphenism