Nasal region polymorphism frequencies in the FrankfurtPan troglodytes verus collection

The results of a morphometric study on the mid-facial region in a collection of 278Pan troglodytes verus skulls are reported. Upwardly divergent nasal bones were found in 35 of the 124 specimens (28.2%) in which this feature could be analyzed. Appreciable separation (1 cm. or more) between nasion and glabella characterized 13 of the 154 skulls (8.4%) in which both these osteometric points could be observed. These findings document the wide ranges of variation that are normally to be found in modest-sized population samples of hominoid primates, and point to the inherent unreliability of cladistic analyses based on the hypothesis that hominoid primate taxa are monomorphic for these character states in the nasal region.