catagenesis: Meaning and Definition of

cat•a•gen•e•sis

Pronunciation: (kat"u-jen'u-sis), [key]
— n. Biol.
  1. the retrogressive evolution of a species. Cf. anagenesis (def. 1).
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.