Accelerated development of reproductive organs relative to somatic tissue, leading to paedomorphosis (Pough 1996).

paedomorphosis produced by precocious sexual maturation of an organism still in a morphologically juvenile stage.

Progenesis is a mechanism in developmental biology that is associated with paedomorphosis. Progenesis refers to the attainment of sexual maturity by an organism still in its larval or juvenile stage and a secondary result of never experiencing later developmental stages. Organisms that are progenetic never achieve the adult form experienced by their evolutionary ancestors.