biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditar ...

, robustness is used to describe a

taxon In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

with a stronger and heavier build ( morphology) when compared to a related

gracile Gracility is slenderness, the condition of being gracile, which means slender. It derives from the Latin adjective ''gracilis'' (masculine or feminine), or ''gracile'' ( neuter), which in either form means slender, and when transferred for examp ...

taxon. The terms are used in contrast to one another. The term is used by physical anthropologists and paleoanthropologists to refer to a big-

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

d and muscular body. For example, members of the genus '' Sapajus'' have robust body types and are called the robust capuchin monkeys while members of the genus '' Cebus'' have gracile body types and are called the gracile capuchin monkeys. Male and female members of the same species may display

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...

and have robust and gracile morphologies. The terms "robust" vs. "gracile" are used in the context of

human evolution Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of ''Homo sapiens'' as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development o ...

, to distinguish: *"robust" vs. "gracile"

australopithecines Australopithecina or Hominina is a subtribe in the tribe Hominini. The members of the subtribe are generally ''Australopithecus'' ( cladistically including the genera ''Homo'', ''Paranthropus'', and '' Kenyanthropus''), and it typically includ ...

, see ''

Paranthropus ''Paranthropus'' is a genus of extinct hominin which contains two widely accepted species: '' P. robustus'' and '' P. boisei''. However, the validity of ''Paranthropus'' is contested, and it is sometimes considered to be synonymous with '' Au ...

'' *"robust" archaic humans vs. "gracile" anatomically modern humans *"robust" early modern humans ( Cro-Magnon) vs. "gracile" Epipaleolithic humans ( Combe-Capelle)

References

Animal anatomy Morphology (biology) {{biology-stub