This article is about the term in biology. For other uses, see Morphology.

Morphology of a male skeleton shrimp, Caprella mutica

Morphology is a branch of biology dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms
and their speci c structural features.[1]

This includes aspects of the outward appearance (shape, structure, colour, pattern, size), i.e.
external morphology (or eidonomy), as well as the form and structure of the internal parts like
bones and organs, i.e. internal morphology (or anatomy). This is in contrast to physiology, which
deals primarily with function. Morphology is a branch of life science dealing with the study of gross
structure of an organism or taxon and its component parts.

History
The etymology of the word "morphology" is from the Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ), meaning
"form", and λόγος (lógos), meaning "word, study, research".[2][3]

While the concept of form in biology, opposed to function, dates back to Aristotle (see Aristotle's
biology), the eld of morphology was developed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1790) and
independently by the German anatomist and physiologist Karl Friedrich Burdach (1800).[4]

Among other important theorists of morphology are Lorenz Oken, Georges Cuvier, Étienne
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Richard Owen, Carl Gegenbaur and Ernst Haeckel.[5][6]

In 1830, Cuvier and E.G.Saint-Hilaire engaged in a famous debate, which is said to exemplify the
two major deviations in biological thinking at the time – whether animal structure was due to
function or evolution.[7]

Divisions of morphology
• Comparative morphology is analysis of the patterns of the locus of structures within the
body plan of an organism, and forms the basis of taxonomical categorization.
• Functional morphology is the study of the relationship between the structure and function of
morphological features.
• Experimental morphology is the study of the effects of external factors upon the
morphology of organisms under experimental conditions, such as the effect of genetic
mutation.
• Anatomy is a "branch of morphology that deals with the structure of organisms".[8]
• Molecular morphology is a rarely used term, usually referring to the superstructure of
polymers such as ber formation[9] or to larger composite assemblies. The term is commonly
not applied to the spatial structure of individual molecules.
• Gross morphology refers to the collective structures of an organism as a whole as a general
description of the form and structure of an organism, taking into account all of its structures
without specifying an individual structure.
Morphology and classi cation
Most taxa differ morphologically from other taxa. Typically, closely related taxa differ much less
than more distantly related ones, but there are exceptions to this. Cryptic species are species which
look very similar, or perhaps even outwardly identical, but are reproductively isolated. Conversely,
sometimes unrelated taxa acquire a similar appearance as a result of convergent evolution or even
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 mimicry. In addition, there can be morphological differences within a species, such as in Apoica
avissima where queens are signi cantly smaller than workers. A further problem with relying on
morphological data is that what may appear, morphologically speaking, to be two distinct species,
may in fact be shown by DNA analysis to be a single species. The signi cance of these differences
can be examined through the use of allometric engineering in which one or both species are
manipulated to phenocopy the other species.

A step relevant to the evaluation of morphology between traits/features within species, includes an
assessment of the terms: homology and homoplasy. Homology between features indicate that those
features have been derived from a common ancestor.[10] Alternatively, homoplasy between features
describes those that can resemble each other, but derive independently via parallel or convergent
evolution.[11]

3D cell morphology: classi cation

The invention and development of microscopy enable the observation of 3-D cell morphology with
both high spatial and temporal resolution. The dynamic processes of this cell morphology which are
controlled by a complex system play an important role in varied important biological process, such
as immune and invasive responses.[12][13]

See also
• Comparative anatomy
• Computational anatomy
• Insect morphology
• Morphometrics
• Neuromorphology
• Phenetics
• Phenotype
• Phenotypic plasticity
• Plant morphology
References
1.
"Morphology De nition of Morphology by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of
Morphology". Lexico DictionariesEnglish. Archived from the original on March 5, 2020.

Bailly, Anatole (1981-01-01). Abrégé du dictionnaire grec français. Paris: Hachette.

ISBN 2010035283. OCLC 461974285.

Bailly, Anatole. "Greek-french dictionary online". www.tabularium.be. Retrieved 2020-02-11.

Mägdefrau, Karl (1992). Geschichte der Botanik [History of Botany] (2 ed.). Jena: Gustav Fischer
Verlag. ISBN 3-437-20489-0.

Richards, R. J. (2008). A Brief History of Morphology. In: The Tragic Sense of Life. Ernst Haeckel
and the Struggle over Evolutionary Thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Di Gregorio, M. A. (2005). From Here to Eternity: Ernst Haeckel and Scienti c Faith. Gottingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
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 Appel, Toby (1987). The Cuvier-Geoffroy Debate: French Biology in the Decades Before Darwin
Archived 2022-12-08 at the Wayback Machine. New York: Oxford University Press.

"Anatomy – De nition of anatomy by Merriam-Webster". merriam-webster.com. 23 September

2023.

"Polymer Morphology". ceas.uc.edu/. Retrieved 2010-06-24.

Lincoln, Roger J. (1998). A dictionary of ecology, evolution, and systematics. Boxshall, Geoffrey
Allan.; Clark, P. F. (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052143842X.
OCLC 36011744.

Pough, F. Harvey (2009). Vertebrate life. Janis, Christine M.; Heiser, John B. (8th ed.). San
Francisco: Benjamin Cummings. ISBN 978-0321545763. OCLC 184829042.

Doyle, A. D.; Petrie, R. J.; Kutys, M. L.; Yamada, K. M. (2013). "Dimensions in Cell Migration".
Current Opinion in Cell Biology. 25 (5): 642–649. doi:10.1016/j.ceb.2013.06.004. PMC 3758466.
PMID 23850350.

1. Dufour, Alexandre Cecilien; Liu, Tzu-Yu; Ducroz, Christel; Tournemenne, Robin;

Cummings, Beryl; Thibeaux, Roman; Guillen, Nancy; Hero, Alfred O.; Olivo-Marin, Jean-
Christophe (2015). "Signal Processing Challenges in Quantitative 3-D Cell Morphology:
More than meets the eye". IEEE Signal Processing Magazine. 32 (1): 30–40.
Bibcode:2015ISPM...32...30D. doi:10.1109/MSP.2014.2359131. S2CID 12630747.
External links

• Media related to Morphology (biology) at Wikimedia Commons

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Anatomy and morphology
Fields • Gross anatomy
• Super cial anatomy
• Neuroanatomy
◦ brain
morphometry
• Comparative anatomy
• Microscopic anatomy
◦ histology
◦ molecular
• Morphometrics
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 Bacteria and fungi • Bacterial cell structure
◦ cellular
morphologies
◦ morphological
plasticity
• Colonial morphology
• Lichen morphology
Protists • Structures
Plants • Plant anatomy
◦ fruit
• Plant habit
• Plant life-form
• Plant morphology
◦ reproductive
• Soil morphology
Invertebrates • Decapod anatomy
• Gastropod anatomy
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◦ Diptera
◦ Odonata
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• Arthropod cuticle
Mammals • Human anatomy
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Other vertebrates • Amphibian anatomy
• Bird anatomy
• Fish anatomy
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Glossaries • Anatomical terminology
• Anatomical terms of location
• Glossary of dinosaur anatomy
• Glossary of plant morphology
◦ leaf morphology
Related topics • Allometry
• Anatomical variation
• Anatomical plane
• Body plan
• Form classi cation
• Gracility
• Hertwig rule
• History of anatomy
◦ 19th century
• Physiognomy
• Standard anatomical position
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