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 named it the Woolnerian tip, after Thomas Woolner, a British sculptor who had depicted it in one of his sculptures and had first theorised that it was an atavistic feature.

There is mixed evidence in regard to whether the bilateral or unilateral expression is related to population, or other factors.

However, bilateral appears to be more common than unilateral as it pertains to the expression of the trait.

[3][6][7][8][9] 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.