Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39748147›Full record

ReviewEvolutionary anthropology2025

Comparative Context of Hard-Tissue Sexual Dimorphism in Early Hominins: Implications for Alpha Taxonomy.

Katharine L Balolia, Bernard Wood

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Evolutionary anthropology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Katharine L BaloliaSchool of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6676-0315
Bernard WoodCenter for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington DC, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0273-7332

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Sexual dimorphism is one of the main factors confounding attempts to generate sound alpha taxonomic hypotheses in the early hominin fossil record. To better understand how between-sex variation may confound alpha taxonomic assessments, we consider some of the factors that drive hard-tissue sexual dimorphism in extant primates. We review the socioecological correlates of body size sexual dimorphism, how sexual selection may be associated with craniofacial sexual dimorphism in the context of visual signaling, and how sex-specific patterns of growth and development in primates contribute to intra-specific variation. To illustrate how variation associated with inferred sexual dimorphism has the potential to confound alpha taxonomic assessments in early hominins, we focus on its impact on our understanding of a single taxon, Paranthropus boisei. We suggest that regions of the skeleton likely to be influenced by sexual selection should be avoided when generating alpha taxonomic hypotheses.

Indexed as

Anthropology, PhysicalFossilsHominidaeSex CharacteristicsAnimalsBiological EvolutionBody SizeFemaleMaleSexual SelectionSkullcraniumgrowthParanthropusprimatesex differencesskeleton

Identifiers

PMID39748147
PMCPMC11695701

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.