while reading up on punctuated equilibrium, I ran up against ploidy, which just sounded silly.

While saltational speciation by change in ploidy is observed to occur in modern populations, this form of speciation is also known to be rare (except in plants).

from M-W:
Main Entry: ploi·dy
Pronunciation: 'ploi-dE
Function: noun
Etymology: from such words as diploidy, hexaploidy
: degree of repetition of the basic number of chromosomes

just wondering about the whole ploid thing...

formerly known as etaoin...