zootypehttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zootype_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_usezootype, n.
Revised 2017

zootypenoun

  1. 1883–
    a. An animal, or figure of an animal, used as the symbolic representation of a god; b. a spatial pattern of gene expression shared by all animal phyla; a stage of embryonic development characterized by the expression of such a pattern.
    1. 1883
      The four zoötypes of the four elements..the crocodile of earth ; the phœnix of the solar fire ; the ape of air ; and the fish or hippopotamus of the waters.
      G. Massey, Natural Genesis vol. II. 325
    2. 1972
      The zootype was depicted..with muscular body, bristling fur, lean and flat head, baring its fangs into a snarl.
      Central Asiatic Journal vol. 16 14
    3. 1993
      We propose that an animal is an organism that displays a particular spatial pattern of gene expression, and we define this pattern as the zootype.
      J. M. W. Slack et al. in Nature 11 February 490/1
    4. 2000
      The zootype is the point in development when genes specifying relative positions, such as Hox genes, are being expressed.
      Systematic Biology vol. 49 9/2

Originally published as part of the entry for zoo-, comb. form

zoo-, comb. form was revised in June 2017.