Level 3 details: the biological variability among the Chinese Population.

This article focuses on the biological variability and distribution of level 3 fingerprint details—specifically pores, ridge breaks, and incipient ridges—within the Chinese population. Analyzing 2,000 fingerprints from 200 donors, the study found that incipient ridges occurred most frequently (24.1%), ridge breaks were less common (3.9%), and pores with clear visibility appeared in about 24.5% of samples. Thumbs exhibited the highest frequency of ridge breaks, while incipient ridges were more prevalent in whorl patterns and more frequent in males. Statistical analyses demonstrated that the occurrences of ridge breaks and incipient ridges conform to Poisson distributions and show significant correlations across different fingers and fingerprint regions, supporting the potential integration of level 3 details into forensic fingerprint evaluation to enhance identification accuracy.