Karl Beurlen

Karl Beurlen (17 April 1901 – 27 December 1985) was a German paleontologist.

Beurlen was born in Aalen. He attended University of Tübingen. He completed a PhD in 1923.

Beurlen was a proponent of orthogenesis and saltational evolution. He used the term metakinesis (coined by Otto Jaekel) to describe sudden changes of development in organisms. He also invented the term palingenesis as a mechanism for his orthogenetic theory of evolution.

He was an assistant of Edwin Hennig.

He was a proponent of National Socialist ideology and wrote about the Aryan race.

He was director of the Zoologische Staatssammlung München.