Distribution and Sexual Dimorphism of the a-b Ridge Count among the Bhil Tribal Community of Mount Abu, Western India

This study aims to understand the distribution and sexual dimorphism of the a-b ridge count. A cross-sectional data was collected on 241 individuals from the ‘Bhil’ tribal community aged 10-60 years from the block Mount Abu, Rajasthan state of western India. A modified Cumins and Midlo (1961) ink printing method was used to obtain the dermatoglyphic configuration. The a-b ridge count has been evaluated following standard technique of Schaumann and Alter (1976), and the total a-b ridge count (TABC) is classified according to Fang (1950) definition. The result shows that the mean TABC is higher in male (80.7) than female (78.5), but statistically insignificant. The a-b ridge count (ABRC) of the right hand in males is significantly higher than female. This study emphasized that the distribution of palmar ridge quantitatively varies between two sex groups. Unfortunately, there is dearth of information on the sexual variation of a-b ridge count. Notably, most of the studies in India on a-b ridge count was in hospital setting or among the patients. In this article, we studied community dwelling healthy population, which offers a complimentary research perspective for forensic anthropologists and to understand the application of a-b ridge pattern for personal identification.