[Quantitative digital dermatoglyphic parameters--their distribution in families].

112 mother-child-father tercettes have been examined for several quantitative dermatoglyphic parameters (total ridge count--TRC--, radial and ulnar differrences, index of pattern type [KEITER]). The distribution of pattern among children has been compared to those of their parents. In the majority of cases within the empirical distribution of the children extreme values outside of the variation range of the parents were observed. This is in contrast to the formal genetic model of additive polygeny (HOLT). These findings have been interpreted as manifestation of TRC-heterogeneity suggesting a modifying action of radial and ulnar ridge differences. The parent-child correlation for the radio-ulnar differences and the index of pattern type were lower than that for the TRC. The interpretation of unexpected differences in quantitative dermatoglyphic parameters of children in relation to the variation of their parents has to be discussed very carefully. Due to the small number of material a correlation between the isolated position of the children in TRC to mother-child-differences in serological markers could not be excluded in this study.