Saltationism

Saltationism is "any of several theories holding that the evolution of species proceeds in major steps by the abrupt transformation of an ancestral species into a descendant species of a different type, rather than by the gradual accumulation of small changes." An example of saltationism in evolutionary thought was Goldschmidt's hopeful monster theory. *Punctuated equilibrium originally incorporated saltationism but later was declared merely complementary to phyletic gradualism

See also

• Goldschmidt's hopeful monster theory
• Theories of evolution