Population Variation of Carabelli’s Trait

Abstract

Two common ideas promulgated in the literature on dental morphology are that (1) shovel-shaped incisors characterize Asiatic populations, and (2) Carabelli’s trait characterizes European populations. While there is extensive support for the first idea, the latter notion is not as unequivocal as generally presented. Observations on Carabelli’s trait in 1,943 individuals from ten samples show that European groups have the highest trait frequencies, but they are closely approximated by African samples. If there is a dichotomy in Carabelli’s trait variation, it is between Asiatic and Asiatic-derived groups with low trait frequencies (25-60%) and European and African populations with high trait frequencies (70-90%). Asiatic Indians fall between these two groupings and American Indians are somewhat exceptional in showing high trait frequencies but few pronounced forms of trait expression.