Digital dermatoglyphic patterns of igbo tribe of south east, nigeria

Dermatoglyphics is the scientific study of papillary ridges in the palm of the hand and soles of the feet. Digital dermatoglyphyics refers to the term fingerprints and everyone possesses a unique set of fingerprints. It has always being of immense importance to forensic scientists, anthropologists and clinicians in respect to genetics in the identification of the ethnicity of a particular individual. This study was carried out to reveal the digital dermatoglyphic pattern of Igbos in South East Nigeria. Fingerprints were taken from 300 subjects (150 males and 150 females) between 15-70 years of age using an ink pad and a plain white A4 paper. The data’s were analyzed to derive the percentage and pattern, arch, whorl & radial loop, pattern for the male and female subjects. The result revealed the ulnar loop pattern 66.06% whorl 19.54%, arch 10.40% and radial loop 4.00% in the male subjects while the females had ulnar loop 61.52%, whorl 15.93%, arch 13.60% and radial loop 8.93%. The mean total finger ridge count (TFRC) of male and females subjects were 90.79±5.48 and 79.25±5.40 respectively though no significant difference was observed. In this study sex dimorphism was observed.