Yes, NEOTENIES is a Scrabble word!

Letter values in Scrabble US: N 1, E 1, O 1, T 1, E 1, N 1, I 1, E 1, S 1.

Is it a valid word?

NEOTENIES is a valid word in the official Scrabble dictionary (US), the UK Scrabble Dictionary and Words with Friends (ENABLE).

an evolutionary trend to be born earlier so that development is cut off at an earlier stage and juvenile characteristics are retained in adults of the species