Darwin's tubercle

Darwin's tubercle (or auricular tubercle) is a congenital ear

Darwin's tubercle
condition which often presents as a thickening on the helix at
the junction of the upper and middle thirds.

History
This atavistic feature is so called because its description was
first published by Charles Darwin in the opening pages of The
Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, as evidence
of a vestigial feature indicating common ancestry among
primates which have pointy ears. However, Darwin himself Left: Darwin's tubercle. Right: the
named it the Woolnerian tip, after Thomas Woolner, a British homologous point in a macaque.
sculptor who had depicted it in one of his sculptures and had Details
first theorised that it was an atavistic feature.[1]
Identifiers
Latin tuberculum auriculare
Prevalence
TA98 A15.3.01.020 (https://ifaa.unifr.c
The feature is present in approximately 10.4% of the Spanish h/Public/EntryPage/TA98%20Tre
adult population, 40% of adults in India, and 58% of Swedish e/Entity%20TA98%20EN/15.3.0
school children.[2][3][4][5] This acuminate nodule represents the 1.020%20Entity%20TA98%20E
point of the mammalian ear. The trait can potentially be N.htm)
bilateral, meaning present on both ears, or unilateral, where it is TA2 194 (https://ta2viewer.openanat
present on only one ear. There is mixed evidence in regard to omy.org/?id=194)
whether the bilateral or unilateral expression is related to
FMA 61151 (https://bioportal.bioontol
population, or other factors. Some populations express full
ogy.org/ontologies/FMA/?p=clas
bilateral, while others may express either unilateral or bilateral.
ses&conceptid=http%3A%2F%2
However, bilateral appears to be more common than unilateral
Fpurl.org%2Fsig%2Font%2Ffm
as it pertains to the expression of the trait.[3][6][7][8][9]
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Anatomical terminology
Inheritance
The gene for Darwin's tubercle was once thought to be inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern with
incomplete penetrance, meaning that those who possess the allele (version of a gene) will not necessarily
present with the phenotype.[10] However, genetic and family studies have demonstrated that the presence of
Darwin's tubercle may be more likely to be influenced by one's environment or developmental accidents
than it is by genetics alone.[11][12][5] There is no clear argument for whether the trait has significance in
sexual dimorphism studies or age related studies. In some studies, there is clear data that Darwin's tubercle
is not associated with sex.[7][6] In contrast, others indicate that there is a correlation with sexual dimorphism
between men and women, where men tend to have the tubercle
more than women in some populations.[3] Two studies indicate that
older men tend to have greater expression of Darwin's tubercle than
do older women.[13]

See also
Human vestigiality

References
1. Millard, D. Ralph; Pickard, Robert E. (1970-04-01).
"Darwin's Tubercle Belongs to Woolner" (http://jamanetw
ork.com/journals/jamaotolaryngology/fullarticle/602881).
Archives of Otolaryngology. 91 (4): 334–335.
doi:10.1001/archotol.1970.00770040492005 (https://doi. Darwin's tubercle (helix)
org/10.1001%2Farchotol.1970.00770040492005).
ISSN 0003-9977 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0003-99
77). PMID 4909009 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/490
9009).
2. Ruiz, A. (1986). "An anthropometric study of the ear in an
adult population". International Journal of Anthropology.
1 (2): 135–43. doi:10.1007/BF02447350 (https://doi.org/1
0.1007%2FBF02447350). S2CID 85200552 (https://api.s
emanticscholar.org/CorpusID:85200552).
3. Singh, P.; Purkait, R. (2009). "Observations of external
ear—an Indian study". HOMO: Journal of Comparative
Human Biology. 60 (5): 461–472.
doi:10.1016/j.jchb.2009.08.002 (https://doi.org/10.1016%
2Fj.jchb.2009.08.002). PMID 19748090 (https://pubmed.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19748090).
4. Hildén, K. (1929). "Studien über das Vorkommen der
darwinschen Ohrspitze in der Bevölkerung Finnlands".
Fennia (52): 3–39.
5. "Myths of Human Genetics: Darwin's tubercle" (http://ude
l.edu/~mcdonald/mytheartubercle.html). udel.edu.
Retrieved 2015-11-02.
Scan of Figure 2, from Darwin's
6. Gurbuz, H.; Karaman, F.; Mesut, R. (2005). "The
Descent of Man, second edition,
variations of auricular tubercle in Turkish people. Institute
illustrating Darwin's tubercle
of Experimental Morphology and Anthropology". Acta
Morphol. Anthropol. 10: 150–156.
7. Rubio, O.; Galera, V.; Alonso, M.C. (August 2015).
"Anthropological study of ear tubercles in a Spanish
sample" (http://ejournals.ebsco.com/Direct.asp?AccessT
oken=8PPUNPOV09NP3FO444YTP9OF9YJ4VYPO3Y
&Show=Object). HOMO: Journal of Comparative Human
Biology. 66 (4): 343–356. doi:10.1016/j.jchb.2015.02.005
(https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jchb.2015.02.005).
PMID 25916201 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25916
201).
 8. Bean, R.B. (1915). "Some characteristics of the external ear of American Whites, American
Indians, American Negroes, Alaskan Eskimos, and Filipinos" (https://zenodo.org/record/1863
007). American Journal of Anatomy. 18 (1915): 201–225. doi:10.1002/aja.1000180204 (http
s://doi.org/10.1002%2Faja.1000180204).
9. Singh, L. (1977). "Hypertrichosis pinnae auris, Darwin's tubercle and palmaris longus among
Khatris and Baniyas of Patiala, India" (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0001566000010011).
Acta Genet. Med. Gemellol. (Rome). 26 (1977): 183–184. doi:10.1017/S0001566000010011
(https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0001566000010011). PMID 596117 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.n
ih.gov/596117).
10. Spinney, Laura (2008). "Vestigial organs: Remnants of evolution" (https://www.newscientist.c
om/channel/being-human/mg19826562.100-vestigial-organs-remnants-of-evolution.html).
New Scientist. 198 (2656): 42. doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(08)61231-2 (https://doi.org/10.101
6%2FS0262-4079%2808%2961231-2).
11. Quelprud, T. (1936). "Zur erblichkeit des darwinschen höckerchens". Zeitschrift für
Morphologie und Anthropologie. 34: 343–363.
12. Beckman, L (1960). "An evaluation of some anthropological traits used in paternity tests".
Hereditas (46): 543–569.
13. Vollmer, H. (1937). "The shape of the ear in relation to body constitution". Arch. Pediatr. 54
(1937): 574–590.

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Darwin%27s_tubercle&oldid=1160586642"