conspecific, a. and n.
(kɒnspɪˈsɪfɪk)
[f. prec. after specific.]
A. adj. Of the same species, specifically identical (though perhaps differing as varieties).
| 1859 A. Gray in W. G. Farlow Mem. 41 The idea of the descent of all similar or conspecific individuals from a common stock. 1883 Nature XXVII. 451 The Bamboo..in the woods of Imerina proves to be conspecific with that of the interior of Bourbon. |
B. n. A member of the same species (see also quot. 1963).
| 1962 Auk LXXIX. 630 The female defends the territory as a whole only against female conspecifics. 1963 Arch. Gen. Psychiatry IX. 314/2 From the animals' behavior, we infer that the category established is that of ‘conspecifics’, that is, the animal assumes that he is of the same kind of being as the object. 1968 R. D. Martin tr. Wickler's Mimicry in Plants & Animals ii. 33 In polymorphic species..conspecifics (members of the same species) may be quite different in appearance. 1976 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Dec. 1590/3 Intention movements in lower organisms trip off appropriate, goal-linked behaviour in their conspecifics. 1979 Amer. Speech 1978 LIII. 278 Even though Ameslan seems to have duality of patterning for its human users, there is no guarantee that it does for Washoe [sc. a chimpanzee] or her conspecifics. 1985 New Scientist 23 May 12/1 When they are aroused, tenrecs weep a white secretion from the angles of their eyes, and the smell of this scented mascara excites conspecifics among these bumbling, hedgehog-like insectivores of the forest floor. |