Evolution where transitional forms are particularly unstable and do not last long
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Quantum evolution is a component of George Gaylord Simpson's multi-tempoed theory of evolution proposed to explain the rapid emergence of higher taxonomic groups in the fossil record. According to Simpson, evolutionary rates differ from group to group and even among closely related lineages. These different rates of evolutionary change were designated by Simpson as bradytelic (slow tempo), horotelic (medium tempo), and tachytelic (rapid tempo).
Quantum evolution differed from these styles of change in that it involved a drastic shift in the adaptive zones of certain classes of animals. The word "quantum" therefore refers to an "all-or-none reaction", where transitional forms are particularly unstable, and thereby perish rapidly and completely.[1] Although quantum evolution may happen at any taxonomic level,[2] it plays a much larger role in "the origin taxonomic units of relatively high rank, such as families, orders, and classes."[3]
^Gould, S. J. (1980). "G. G. Simpson, Paleontology and the Modern Synthesis." In E. Mayr and W. B. Provine, eds., The Evolutionary Synthesis. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 153–172.
^Simpson, G. G. (1953). The Major Features of Evolution. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, p. 389.
^Simpson, G. G. (1944). Tempo and Mode in Evolution. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, p. 206.
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