Tapirid
Group Melanesid
- common
- occasional
- rare
Description
Pygmy Melanesian type. In difference to many other Pygmies, it shares a common history with its taller neighbours and probably represents a secondary adaption driven by iodine deficiency. Typified by the now-gone Tapiro. Also in Pesechem, Goliath, Aiome, Afere, Baining, Mafulu, Yali, Kimyal, Mek, Ketengban, and Una. Occasionally in Vanuatu and the Bismarck Archipelago.
Physical traits
Dark to medium brown, yellowish-reddish skin. Tight-curly or kinky brown-black, sometimes red or blonde hair. (Very) short, the Kimyal even shorter than Bambutids. Mesoskelic, mesomorph to ectomorph. Small-headed, meso- brachycephalic, orthocranic. Mesorrhine or mildly platyrrhine, fleshy, broad-backed, sometimes mildly convex nose. Mouth very large with a convex upper lip, ears short and broad.
Literature
Early investigations by Wollaston (1912) and Rawling (1913). Tapirid was used by Knussman (1996), Biasutti (1967) and Vallois (1971) regarded them as a separate Tapiro subrace, in Howell's (1970) analysis it appears as "group A". Speiser (1938) and Lundman (1967) regarded them as a local modification. Genetically the adaption seems relatively recent (Tommaseo-Ponzetta et al, 2013).
