1. to undergo speciation; to evolve into a new and distinct species
Usage: biology; intransitive
2. to cause to undergo speciation; to separate into distinct species
Usage: biology; transitive

Examples

• The isolated population began to speciate after thousands of years.
• Geographic barriers can cause animals to speciate over time.
• Darwin’s finches speciated into different forms on the Galápagos Islands.
• Environmental pressures may speciate a single population into multiple species.
• The researchers studied how insects speciate in different habitats.
• Climate change could force some species to speciate more rapidly.