title: The interaction between nonmetric and metric cranial variation.
abstract: Cranial discrete or 'epigenetic" traits have been analyzed for interrelationships with measurements of the skull in a sample of American Negro males. Univariate t and multivariate T2 tests are used. It has been the previous consensus view that nonmetric and metric characters are unrelated. Statistically significant associations between the total of 50 discrete and 23 metrical characters, however, are much more frequent than would be expected through random distribution. Multivariate analysis supplements simpler statistics by synthesizing patterns of variation within regions of the skull, identifying many interrelations of skull size and shape with discrete traits. A low but observable general influence is exerted upon nonmetric morphology by metrical variation of the human skull (or vice versa).
mesh_terms: D002508:Cephalometry / Q000379:methods*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development