Immutability of species

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The thesis of the immutability of species (also called the constancy of species ) is based on the assumption that all species were created in a unique creation process and that since then there has been no change in species (evolution).

Carl von Linné took this point of view. Georges Cuvier founded his catastrophe theory that after a one-time act of creation, many species were affected by catastrophes such as B. ice ages , meteorite impacts etc. died out.

This thesis was widespread before the theory of evolution gradually gained acceptance after 1858 - through Charles Darwin's book The Origin of Species . The naturalists Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon , Erasmus Darwin , Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire , however, questioned this theory even before Darwin.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lexicon of Biology: Descent. On Spektrum.de