Tooth size of Ticuna Indians, Colombia, with phenetic comparisons to other Amerindians

This study reports an odontometric analyses of unadmixed, adult Ticuna Indians, Colombia, South America. This group is characterized by crown diameters intermediate in size relative to the known Amerindian range and, in turn, to the range in modern man. Sex dimorphism is absent in Ticuna tooth size; there is a strong retention of the MI > M2 size sequence. The Ticuna are compared multivariately to other Indian groups reported in the literature, using the size and shape coefficients of L.S. Penrose. Tooth size clusters the groups into small, medium, and large-toothed classes, but does not yield a pattern attributable to known genetic or historical affinities. Shape coefficients distinguish Indians from non-Indians (Caucasian, Negroid, and Australian samples), primarily on the basis of 11-12 proportionalities. Neither size nor shape discriminates between North and South American groups.