Brief communication: Sex determination accuracy of the minimum supero-inferior femoral neck diameter in a contemporary rural Guatemalan population

One hundred and fourteen femora (75 male and 39 female) derived from a contemporary rural Guatemalan population were studied to test the ability of the minimum supero-inferior femoral neck diameter as a sex indicator. With the discriminant functions previously developed from North American modern populations, a maximum of only 36% correctly sexed femora was obtained, with correct percentages as low as 4%. A new discriminant function for the Guatemalan rural population is presented, with a total of 89.5% correctly classified individuals. It is suggested that poor physical growth of the rural Guatemalan population, due to a stressful environment, can explain part of the metric differences observed between the North American and rural Guatemalan populations.     

Variability of vertebral column measurements in Lithuanian paleopopulation

An analysis of measurements (anterior and posterior heights and middle body breadth) of 6,357 vertebrae and 336 sacral bones (length, superior breadth and promontory angle) of 539 adult persons from the 1st and the 2nd millennium burial grounds was performed. It was established that longitudinal and transversal measurements are rather weakly correlated. The factor of sex plays a major role in variability of vertebral measurements (up t0 40% from the total sum of factors). Certain sexual differences in a vertebral body form were also noted. The age has slight though significant influence (up to 8%) on vertebral body breadths, that was probably connected with age-related degenerative changes. The influence of the secular factor on vertebral variability was minimal. Only slight to moderate correlations with total body measurements were found. The conclusion was made that vertebral column measurements are of little value in interpopulational comparisons, at least for Europid samples, butthey could be of considerable interest for forensic anthropology.     

Evolutionary and biogeographical implications of variation in skull morphology of raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides,Mammalia: Carnivora)

Morphological characteristics reflect geographical variation resulting from adaptation to varying environmental conditions. Carnivore species distributed over a wide geographical range generally have highly polymorphic morphological variation. The raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) has a longitudinal distribution restricted to East Asia and the northern Indochina Peninsula. Its unique geographical range makes it an appropriate model to examine how morphological differences are influenced by geography. To demonstrate morphological evolution of Russian, Chinese, Korean and Japanese raccoon dogs predicted by geographical differences, we tested the island rule and Bergmann's rule. We compared craniodental variation among populations and examined morphological implications for intraspecific taxonomic status. Insular raccoon dogs possessed substantially smaller body size than those from the mainland. Moreover, different island effects among Japanese islands were demonstrated by markedly larger occipital condyle breath in the Hokkaido population. Larger skull size in Russian and Hokkaido raccoon dogs could be explained by Bergmann's rule. Based on previous chromosomal and molecular studies and results of our morphological analyses, we suggest Japanese raccoon dogs are a distinct species from the mainland N. procyonoides.