title: Variation in palmar interdigital ridge-counts among the 20 Dhangar castes of Maharashtra, India.
abstract: Bilateral palmar prints of 2927 males of 20 endogamous Dhangar castes of Maharashtra, India, were studied for the distributions of a-b, b-c and c-d interdigital ridge-counts. The ridge-counts have been utilized for examining the inter-population affinities among the Dhangar castes. The distribution of a-b ridge-counts is symmetrical and normal in Dhangar castes. The distributions of b-c and c-d ridge-counts on both palms also show (nearly) normal distribution, but with a tendency of negative skewness and platykurtosis in c-d ridge-count. Equality of means and standard deviations depict significant heterogeneity. The decreasing order of magnitude of means of interdigital ridge-counts is a-b > c-d > b-c among all the Dhangar castes. Intercaste comparisons reveal a great deal of variations in all ridge-counts. The pattern of relationship between the Dhangar castes based on the three ridge-counts is in agreement with the expected patterns of affinities based on the known ethno-historical evidence. The significant finding of the study is that the palmar interdigital ridge-counts follow normal distribution and that they are useful in studying inter-population affinities.
authors.affiliation: Indian Statistical Institute, Anthropometry and Human Genetics Unit, Calcutta, India.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karmakar
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Vasu
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Malhotra
authors.forename: B V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Bhanu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003878:Dermatoglyphics; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics*; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010375:Pedigree