On the meaning of increased fluctuating dental asymmetry: a cross populational study

Suarez reports a greater magnitude of fluctuating dental asymmetry for Neandertal sample when compared with a sample of modern Ohio whites. He postulates that this greater antimeric variance could be due to a greater degree of inbreeding in the Neandertal populations. In the present investigation, the magnitude of fluctuating dental asymmetry is evaluated for Eskimo and Pueblo populations. These populations were found to exhibit dental variance of equal magnitude to that of the Neandertal population. As these populations are not highly inbred, a stress related mechanism is suggested to explain these observations and the inbreeding hypothesis is rejected. The implications of this mechanism to Brace's Probable Mutation Effect are discussed.