Another advance in FR(finger ratio)enology research!
Digit ratios predict polygyny in early apes, Ardipithecus, Neanderthals and early modern humans but not in Australopithecus.
Nelson E, Rolian C, Cashmore L, Shultz S
Proc Biol Sci. 2010 Nov 3;Social behaviour of fossil hominoid species is notoriously difficult to predict owing to difficulties in estimating body size dimorphism from fragmentary remains and, in hominins, low canine size dimorphism. Recent studies have shown that the second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D : 4D)…[etc.]… Here, we use proximal phalanx ratios of extant and fossil specimens to reconstruct the social systems of extinct hominoids…. Although speculative owing to small sample sizes, these results suggest that digit ratios represent a supplementary approach for elucidating the social systems of fossil hominins.