Quantitative Dermatoglyphic Traits Research Articles

Handedness and dermatoglyphic directional and fluctuating asymmetry

The dermatoglyphics of 650 right-handed and 98 left-handed males were compared. A to tal of 66 variables were used, entailing 24 quantitative dermatoglyphic traits, 11 indices of intraindi vidual diversity, 15 indices of directional asymmetry and 16 indices of fluctuating bilateral asymme try. The data were submitted to principal component and discriminant analyses. In right-handers, the fluctuating asymmetry was reduced and the directional asymmetry was bet ter expressed than in left-handers. Principal component analysis brought out ten factors, accounting in right-handers for 68.26 % and in left-handers for 73.50 % of the total variance. Among observed factors, there was one for the finger ridge counts, one for the main palmar lines and one for the a?b ridge counts. A fourth factor, namely a factor for the intraindividual diversity was also uncovered. In the right-handers, these four factors were the I, V, X and II factors, respectively, while in the left-handers, there were slight rear rangements in the trait associations. The high loadings for the directional asymmetry indices were dispersed between several factors, the dispersion being larger in the left-handed group. The high loadings for the fluctuating asymmetry indices were concentrated in one factor (factor IV) in the right-handers, whereas in the left-handers they were dispersed in several factors. Discriminant analysis significantly separated the right- and left-handers (D2, Mahalanobis dis tance = 0.4986, p = 0.0024). Ten discriminatory variables were selected by this analysis: 4 indices of directional asymmetry, 4 indices of fluctuating asymmetry, and 2 quantitative traits. The correlation between dermatoglyphics and handedness leads to the conclusion that at least in most if not all of the cases, handedness is established already in the early period of intrauterine de velopment.

The dermatoglyphic characteristics of two isolated Bedouin groups from South Sinai

The dermatoglyphics of the Muzeina and Gebeliya Bedouin tribes, two small biologically isolated populations, leading a similar nomadic life under the specific conditions of the Sinai desert, were studied. The differences found between the studied samples concern particularly the frequencies of palmar and finger pattern types. These differences are in agreement with data on the origin of the tribes, a Negro and/or European admixture being evident in the Gebeliya dermatoglyphics. The coefficients of variation for some quantitative dermatoglyphic traits, presumably with a polygenic determination, are lower in the Muzeina than in the Gebeliya sample. Isolation and consanguinity may exert their influence on the dermatoglyphic traits influencing the frequencies of the corresponding genes.

Principal components method and nonmetric two‐dimensional scaling method for quantitative dermatoglyphic traits of the taimir aborigines

AbstractThe quantitative dermatoglyphic traits of the Taimir aborigines have been studied in this paper. The correlation matrix of the traits was analyzed by a nonmetric two‐dimensional scaling method and by a principal components method. Comparative contribution of palmar and digital traits variation to the principal components is under discussion.

The use of penrose's C2H for an intra- and inter-population analysis of quantitative dermatoglyphic traits.

Results of a part of multidisciplinary studies in six villages on the island of Hvar (Yugoslavia) are presented. Six quantitative properties of dermatoglyphics were analysed (TRC, PII, a-b, b-c and c-d ridge counts, and atd angle). "Biological distances" among the surveyed couples from all six villages were analysed using Penrose's C2H, and its components: C2Q and (v-1/v)C2Z with regard to sex and possibility of determining the direction of endogamy or exogamy. Significant correlation between "geographical distances" and (v-1/v)C2Z is obtained for males, indicating that the social organisation in the examined rural population, from the point of view of demography, has some influence on the distribution of the dermatoglyphical characters.

The analysis of quantitative dermatoglyphic traits in the rural population of the island of Hvar

This paper relates to the study of the quantitative properties of digitopalmar dermatoglyphics (TRC, PII, a-b, b-c and c-d ridge-counts, and atd angle) of the inhabitants of the eastern and western part of the island of Hvar, as part of the multidisciplinary studies. The results have provided no evidence to support the hypothesis about the existence, in relation to the dermatoglyphic characteristics analysed, of the genetically different groups living in the same biotope.