Primate Handedness Data for Phylogenetic Analysis of 41 Species

Thomas A. Püschel's dataset contains numerical data used in a study of manual lateralization across 41 anthropoid species (n=2,025 individuals). The data supports phylogenetic comparative analysis and meta-analysis of handedness direction (MHI) and strength (MABSHI). It was last updated on 2026-04 27 and is shared under a CC-BY-4.0 license on figshare.

Use Cases

• Conduct phylogenetic comparative analysis based on handedness index data across species.
• Test eco-evolutionary hypotheses for handedness direction and strength based on the described meta-analysis.
• Model the relationship between brain size, bipedalism, and lateralization based on the factors identified in the study.
• Identify evolutionary outliers in handedness traits relative to phylogenetic expectations.

Strengths

• Data underpins a peer-reviewed scientific analysis published on figshare.
• Includes a substantial sample size of 2,025 individuals across 41 species.
• Explicitly links to specific figures (Figs 2, 3, and 4) from the associated research.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset is very small (39.4 KB), indicating limited scope and likely summary-level data.

Provenance

Source

Thomas A. Püschel

Collection Method

Likely compiled from meta-analysis and phylogenetic comparative methods.

Time Range

Temporal coverage of the underlying studies is not specified.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-27 17:33:50; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Spatial coverage is not specified.