Abstract
Five morphologic crown traits were observed in a sample of 50 Ladakhi males of the state Jammu & Kashimir in India. The Ladakhi dentitions are characterized by high frequency of shoveling, a well-reduced hypocone in second molars and mandibular molar with five cusps. They exhibit low frequency of CARABELLI's trait and Dryopithecus pattern. When the Ladakhi crown trait frequencies were compared with those of six other Asian populations, the Ladakhi dentitions showed the closest affinities to Sherpas dentitions. The tooth crown morphology of the Ladakhi lies between the Mongoloids and the Caucasoids. The biological distances among the compared populations are closely associated with geographical distances.
