engleski

Dermatoglyphs in Croatian population

Polygenetically determined traits, as are dermatoglyphs of the digito-palmar complex, were studied in different parts of Croatia and compared in relation to the known historical and ethnological background. The 16 quantitative dermatoglyphic traits were analysed in 11 populations: six islands (Silba, Olib, Pag, Brač, Hvar, and Korčula), Istria and Pelješac peninsula and three mainland areas (Sinj, Ilok, and capital of Zagreb). This paper presents the results of Mahalanobis D2 biological distance for examined populations. There are three different clusters between various groups of populations. The Istrian population forms one cluster, the island populations form the second and the mainland populations form the third cluster. These differences could be explained as a result of different migrations during history, the intensity of reproductive isolation and different selective pressures which have affected long-term adaptation processes of these investigated populations. The results of the presented study clearly indicate once again the fact that dermatoglyphs can explain, or make more understandable, some events which took place during the microevolution of the contemporary populations, and they once again point to the need of dermatoglyphic analyses in the study of population structure of contemporary human groups.

dermatoglyphs; population structure; population genetics; anthropology

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