External Long Bone Morphology as a Tool for Sex Identification in Great Apes: The Case of the Humerus and Femur.
Objectives: Sexual dimorphism in primates reflects evolutionary, ecological, and social pressures and varies widely across species, complicating its analysis. This study builds on previous research to investigate sexual dimorphism in the long bones of great apes, aiming to improve sex estimation and...
| Publicado en: | American Journal of Biological Anthropology Vol. 188; no. 2; pp. 1 - 28 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Oct2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=188962981&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 188962981 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 26927691 MYY3 jtl: American Journal of Biological Anthropology issn: 26927691 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Oct2025 vid: 188 iid: 2 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 188962981 10.1002/ajpa.70139 ppf: 1 ppct: 27 formats: tig: atl: External Long Bone Morphology as a Tool for Sex Identification in Great Apes: The Case of the Humerus and Femur. aug: au: Aramendi, Julia affil: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK su: Hominids Sexual dimorphism Humerus Classification algorithms Machine learning Morphometrics Femur sug: subj: Hominids Sexual dimorphism Humerus Classification algorithms Machine learning Morphometrics Femur keyword: geometric morphometrics great apes long bones machine learning sexual dimorphism geometric morphometrics great apes long bones machine learning sexual dimorphism ab: Objectives: Sexual dimorphism in primates reflects evolutionary, ecological, and social pressures and varies widely across species, complicating its analysis. This study builds on previous research to investigate sexual dimorphism in the long bones of great apes, aiming to improve sex estimation and evaluate the effectiveness of various methods in classifying unsexed specimens. Materials and Methods: External morphology of humeri and femora from modern great apes—including Homo, Pan, Gorilla, and Pongo—was analyzed using 3D anatomical landmarks and geometric morphometrics. Various statistical approaches and dimensionality reduction techniques were employed alongside classification methods, including supervised machine learning algorithms. Results: Size, rather than shape, emerged as the main factor distinguishing male and female long bones in great apes—except in Pan, where dimorphism is minimal and classification accuracy remains low. Incorporating size improved classification accuracy for Gorilla, Pongo, and Homo, with results indicating strong dimorphism in Gorilla and Pongo, moderate dimorphism in Homo sapiens, and minimal dimorphism in Pan. Discussion: This study shows that combining geometric morphometrics with machine learning can enhance sex classification of great ape long bones. Nonetheless, limitations such as small or imbalanced samples highlight the need for larger datasets and further research—including internal bone structure—to better understand skeletal dimorphism and its evolutionary drivers. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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