Digital dermatoglyphics of Southern African male Negro ...
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Z. Morph. Anthrop. 71 215-227 Stuttgart, August 1980 Digital dermatoglyphics of Southern African male Negro populations By Hertha de Villi ers, Johannesburg With 4 tables in the text Summary : Digital dermatoglyphic patterns were analysed and dermal ridges counted for 2443 Southern African Bantu-speaking Negro males, from 17 populati ons: from Angola and Caprivi in the Nort h-west, through Mal awi, the Republic of South Africa and Lesotho to Mozambique and Swaziland in the East where these populations have live d for many generations in their various ecozones. The dermatoglyphic features are in general accord with those regarded as aracteristic of African Negroes : the dominant pattern is the l oop, ares being uncommon. Significant inter-tribal differences in pattern types on the first digit are limited to the southern Venda and Sotho groups. The analyses of ridge counts - for the digits, the hands, and the total ridge count - demonstrated a remarkable homogeneity for these Southern African Negro popul ations. In the context of population s tudies therc- fore ridge count analyses apparently have a limited application. Zusammenfassung : Die Untersuung der Hautleisten der ihrer geographisen und histo- risen Herkunft na teilweise ret versiedenen Negerpopulationen ordnet sie alle deut- li in den negriden Formenkreis e in: Auf den Fingerbeeren weisen die Frequenzen der Mustertypen bemerkenswerte Unt ersi edlikeiten nur zwisen den südlien Venda und den Sotho-Gruppen auf. Der Merkmalskomplex der quantit ativen Fingerwerte bietet keine Unterseidungsmöglike it zwisen den nord-, zentral-, ost- und südafrikanisen Negri - den. Diese Befunde können daher kaum zur Differenzierung der einzelnen Populationen beitragen. The development of dermatoglyphic ridg es and pat terns is compl eted in the fourth month of foe tal life and ther eaft er th e alignment numb er and pattern remains unanged by the e nvironment. Fur ther, i t is gen erally accept ed tha t the total ridge count is polygenically determined by a s eri es of additive genes in- depende nt i n effect and without dominance (HOLT 1952, 1953; PENROSE 1969; RosTow 1977). lnterpopulation differ ences ha ve, therefor e, been consider ed to reflect genetic differences. In additio n, ridge counti ng provides a method for converting the pat tern i nto a qua ntitative trait whi can be analys ed sta tistically. Although in the pas t decade ther e have been ma ny studies on the dermato- glyphics of sub-Saharan Negro peopl es ( e. g. MATZNETTER 1967, 1970, 1 973; BREHME 1972 a, b; SuNDERLAND & CooPE 1 973; ROBE RTS et al. 1974; RrGTE R- ARrs 1975 ). The purpose of thi s pre sent s tudy is to place on record details of the digital derma toglyphics of a fur ther 17 Southern African populations not pre- viously published and to determine the usefulness of digital dermatoglyphic trai ts in the context of populatio n studies. 0044-314X/80/0 071- 0215 $ 3.25 980 E. Sweizcrbart'se Verlagsbuhand lung, D-7000 Stuttgart 1 DOI: 10.1127/zma/71/1980/215
Transcript of Digital dermatoglyphics of Southern African male Negro ...
Z. Morph . Anthrop. 71 2 1 5-227 Stuttgart, August 1980
Digital dermatoglyphics of Southern African male Negro populations
By Hertha de Villiers, Johannesburg
With 4 tables in the text
Summary : Digital dermatoglyphic patterns were analysed and dermal ridges counted for 2443 Southern African Bantu-speaking Negro males, from 1 7 populations : from Angola and Caprivi in the North-west, through Malawi, the Republic of South Africa and Lesotho to Mozambique and Swaziland in the East where these populations have lived for many generations in their various ecozones. The dermatoglyphic features are in general accord with those regarded as characteristic of African Negroes : the dominant pattern is the loop, arches being uncommon. Significant inter-tribal differences in pattern types on the first digit are limited to the southern Venda and Sotho groups. The analyses of ridge counts - for the digits, the hands, and the total ridge count - demonstrated a remarkable homogeneity for these Southern African Negro populations. In the context of population studies thercfore ridge count analyses apparently have a limited application.
Zusammenfassung : Die Untersuchung der Hautleisten der ihrer geographischen und historischen Herkunft nach teilweise recht verschiedenen Negerpopulationen ordnet sie alle deutlich in den negriden Formenkreis ein : Auf den Fingerbeeren weisen die Frequenzen der Mustertypen bemerkenswerte Unterschiedlichkeiten nur zwischen den südlichen Venda und den Sotho-Gruppen auf. Der Merkmalskomplex der quantitativen Fingerwerte bietet keine Unterscheidungsmöglichkeit zwischen den nord-, zentral-, ost- und südafrikanischen Negriden. Diese Befunde können daher kaum zur Differenzierung der einzelnen Populationen beitragen .
The development of dermatoglyphic ridges and patterns is completed in the fourth month of foetal life and thereafter the alignment number and pattern remains unchanged by the environment. Further, i t is generally accepted that the total ridge count is polygenically determined by a series of additive genes independent in effect and without dominance (HOLT 1 952 , 1 953 ; PENROSE 1 969 ; RosTow 1 977) . lnterpopulation differences ha ve, therefore, been considered to reflect genetic differences. In addition, ridge counting provides a method for converting the pattern into a quantitative trait which can be analysed statistically.
Although in the past decade there have been many studies on the dermatoglyphics of sub-Saharan Negro peoples (e. g. MATZNETTER 1 967, 1 970, 1 973 ; BREHME 1 972 a, b ; SuNDERLAND & CooPE 1 973 ; ROBERTS et al. 1 974 ; RrGTERARrs 1 975 ). The purpose of this present study is to place on record details of the digital dermatoglyphics of a further 1 7 Southern African populations not previously published and to determine the usefulness of digital dermatoglyphic traits in the context of population studies.
0044- 3 1 4X/80/007 1 -02 1 5 $ 3 .25 ©1 980 E . Schweizcrbart ' sche Verlagsbuchhan d l u n g , D-7000 Stuttgart 1
DOI: 10.1127/zma/71/1980/215
