In the Caucasian groups that we studied ponticulus posticus is positively associated with cranial shift at cervico-thoracic border (χ2 -test, p<0.05), and negatively – with lumbalization of S1 (p<0.01). <...> In summary, if the frequency of ponticulus posticus is used in inter-group comparisons it should be analyzed separately for each sex. <...> It is somehow associated with cranial shift in spine morphology described by Khьne (1932), the nature of this association is a matter of future studies. <...> Key words: ponticulus posticus, human anatomy, non-metric feature, intra-species variability Contact information: Karapetian Marina, e-mail: marishkakar@hotmail.com. <...> INHERITANCE OF DERMATOGLYPHIC ASYMMETRY AND DIVERSITY TRAITS IN TWINS BASED ON FACTOR: VARIANCE DECOMPOSITION ANALYSIS Karmakar Bibha1 , Malkin Ida2 , Kobyliansky Eugene2 1Biological Anthropology Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India 2Human Population Biology Unit, Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Background: It is well known that twin data have played a central role to sort out genetic from environmental variation. <...> The increased dermatoglyphic asymmetry corresponds to a higher inter pair variability in a number of behavioral tests have prominent from earlier twin studies. <...> Relatively few studies have attempted towards the extent and relative contributions of genetic and environmental effects on twin pedigrees through genetic model fi tting statistical procedures. <...> Aim: Dermatoglyphic asymmetry and diversity traits from a large number of twins were analyzed based on principal factors to evaluate genetic effects and common familial environmental infl uences by the use of maximum likelihood based Variance decomposition analysis. <...> Sample: Data consists of monozygotic (MZ) twins of two sexes (102 male pairs and 138 female pairs) and 120 pairs of dizygotic (DZ) female twins. <...> Results: All asymmetry (DA and FA) and diversity (Div) traits were clearly separated into factors and are perfectly corroborated with earlier studies (Micle and Kobyliansky, 1986, 1991, Karmakar et al., 2001) in different ethnic populations, which indicate a common biological validity perhaps exists of the underlying component structures of dermatoglyphic characters. <...> Heritability results of twins clearly <...>