Variation in maximal angle <atd among 20 Dhangar castes of Maharashtra, India

TLDR: In this article, a sample of 3000 males belonging 20 endogamous castes from Maharashtra were analysed to determine specifically the distribution of <atd along with bilateral differences and population variation. And the results suggest, angle atd is more stable phenotype compared to some other palmar quantitative characters.

Abstract: In a sample of 3000 males belonging 20 endogamous castes from Maharashtra were analysed to determine specifically the distribution of <atd along with bilateral differences and population variation. The right, left and right plus left sides, each separately exhibit unimodal, meptokurtic and positively skewed distribution in all populations. The mean and standard deviations are significantly heterogenous in nature. Non-significant bilateral differences of atd angle toward symmetry express well in all 20 castes. Population variations are found to be lesser, i.e. 44 (23.16%) significant out of 190 caste pairs compared to other palmar quantitative variables like interdigital ridge counts — ab, bc and cd; and main line index. These results suggests, angle atd is more stable phenotype compared to some other palmar quantitative characters.