Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
Department of Ethnology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
Am J Hum Biol. 2021 Mar;33(2):e23458. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.23458. Epub 2020 Jun 28.
The aim of the present study was to investigate sexual dimorphism in the full facial shape of modern Buryats-people of Southern Siberia of Mongolian origin.
For this purpose, we have used geometric morphometrics based on standardized full-face frontal photographs. This allowed us to assess and visualize differences in facial shapes between Buryat men (n = 98) and women (n = 89). To specify the facial areas, where the differences occurred, we have complemented our analysis with standard anthropometric facial parameters based on approximations to the craniofacial and mandibular landmarks and soft-tissue morphology of specific facial areas.
Our results revealed that Buryat women have a set of sexually dimorphic features similar to those reported earlier for other Asian populations (a relatively wider and vertically shorter lower face, more round visible areas of the eyes, relatively narrower noses, smaller mouths, larger [in vertical dimension] foreheads, and relatively thinner upper lips, when compared to Buryat males). At the same time, Buryat women had a specific characteristic, distinguishing them from other world populations-a significantly higher upper face width-to-height ratio (fWHR) compared to males. This indicates that the high fWHR is not a universally male feature in humans, which raises a question of underlying developmental mechanisms.
Our results clearly demonstrate that some elements of sexually dimorphic facial shapes may differ across populations with different genetic and ecological backgrounds, and suggest that universal mechanisms of sex-specific facial morphogenesis still need to be clarified in the future.
本研究旨在探讨起源于蒙古的西伯利亚南部布里亚特人的全颜面的性别二态性。
为此，我们使用了基于标准化全颜面正面照片的几何形态测量学。这使我们能够评估和可视化布里亚特男性（n=98）和女性（n=89）之间的面部形状差异。为了确定差异发生的面部区域，我们将分析补充了基于对头面和下颌标志以及特定面部区域软组织形态的近似的标准人体测量面部参数。
我们的结果表明，布里亚特女性具有一组与先前报道的其他亚洲人群相似的性别二态性特征（相对更宽且垂直较短的下面部，更圆的可见眼部区域，相对较窄的鼻子，较小的嘴巴，较大的[垂直方向]额头，以及相对较薄的上唇，与布里亚特男性相比）。同时，布里亚特女性具有一个独特的特征，将她们与其他世界人群区分开来-与男性相比，上面部宽度与高度的比例（fWHR）显著更高。这表明高 fWHR 不是人类中普遍的男性特征，这引发了对潜在发育机制的质疑。
我们的结果清楚地表明，不同遗传和生态背景的人群中，一些性别二态性面部形状的元素可能存在差异，并表明未来仍需要阐明性别特异性面部形态发生的普遍机制。
