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