A collation of marker gene and dermatoglyphic diversity at various levels of population differentiation.

The use of dermatoglyphic traits to describe interpopulational diversity among human populations at various levels of differentiation is compared with similar analysis of gene frequency data by means of nonparametric methods employing distance matrices and dendrograms, and by a partition of total variability into its between and within population components. Congruence of dermatoglyphics and gene markers appears to vary with level of population differentiation -- the association remains insignificant until racial level of differentiation is considered. Different pitfalls of the data used are mentioned. The interpretation of these findings is discussed by comparison with other non-human studies.