A study on the dermatoglyphic patterns of Okrika and Ikwerre ethnic groups of Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out to compare the dermatoglyphic patterns of Okrika and Ikwerre ethnic groups. Dermatoglyphic analysis of five hundred and ten (510) subjects comprising of two hundred and seventy nine (279) Okrika indigenes and two hundred and thirty one (231) Ikwerre indigenes between the ages of 15- 70 years was carried out. The sample population was drawn at random from the University of Port Harcourt and National Secondary School Okrika. The parameters studied are the digital pattern, atd and dat angles. The result revealed that the ulnar loop had the highest occurrence, followed by the whorl, arches and radial loops. The percentage frequency distribution of the digital pattern of the ulnar loop for Okrika was 46.42%, whorl 37.77%, arch 14.12% and radial loops 1.71% while for Ikwerre the ulnar loop was 56.46%, whorl 24.42%, arch 15.89% and radial loop 3.23%. The pattern intensity index for Okrika was 11.69 while that of Ikwerre was 10.91.The mean atd angle for Okrika was 43.98 for the left hand
and 43.75 for the right hand while for Ikwerre was 42.68 for the left hand and 41.69 for the right hand. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in the digital pattern and atd angles between the two ethnic groups. The mean of the dat angles for Okrika was 60.36 for the left hand and 60.33 for the right hand. That of Ikwerre was 57.41 for the left hand and 57.76 for the right hand. There was however a significant difference between the dat angles of both ethnic groups (P<0.05). The digital pattern, whorls, ulnar and radial loops are important features for
identification and forensic investigations of ethnic groups.

Key words: Dermatoglyphics, Okrika, Ikwerre.