page 153–162                                                                                                                                                                                        RUS

https://doi.org/10.20874/2071-0437-2026-74-3-12

УДК 572.08   EDN: https://elibrary.ru/SIRYZN

  http://www.ipdn.ru/_private/a74/153-162.pdf

Cranial non-metric traits and genetic differentiation: is there a universal trait set for regional population comparisons?

Movsesian, Alla A., PhD, leading researcher, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Biology, Department of Anthropology, Moscow, Russia, amovsessyan@gmail.com, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1329-5904

This study examines the extent to which phenetic distances calculated from cranial non-metric traits are concordant with genetic differences between populations and whether a single informative trait set can be identified across regions. The analysis is based on near-modern cranial series from two partly overlapping regional population groups: a Ural group including Uralic-speaking populations and a Siberian group including North Asian and Arctic populations. Morphological differences were measured using the Mean Measure of Divergence (MMD), and their correspondence with genetic distances (F_ST) was assessed with the Mantel test. The analysis used frequencies of 30 cranial non-metric traits and published genetic distance matrices for the two regional datasets. In addition to the full trait set, the study employed preliminary subset screening and a permutation procedure with repeated trait reselection designed to account for bias caused by post hoc selection of the best-performing subset. Phenetic distances calculated from the full trait set showed a statistically significant correlation with genetic distances in both groups. However, the pattern differed between them: in the Ural group, the most robust result was obtained with a compact core of traits, whereas in the Siberian group the most reliable result required a broader 12-trait set. These findings suggest that the informative composition of cranial non-metric traits is region-specific rather than universal and that its reliable evaluation requires permutation testing with repeated feature selection.

Keywords:  cranial non-metric traits, phenetic distances, genetic distances, Mean Measure of Divergence, Mantel test, permutation testing, feature selection, Ural, Siberia, North Asia.

© Movsesian A.A., 2026

Funding. The study was carried out within the framework of the state assignment of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

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