Lip printing (Cheiloscopy) is an effective secondary forensic identification method, based on the unique groove patterns in the lip mucosa that reflect genetic differences between ethnic groups. This descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to analyze and compare the lip print patterns of students from three main ethnic groups: Malay, Batak, and Javanese. A sample of 75 students (25 from each ethnic group) from the Biology Education Study Program, University of Jambi, was selected using a purposive sampling technique based on non-mixed criteria. Lip print analysis was performed visually and classified using the Suzuki-Tsuchihashi system which divides the patterns into six types (I, I’, II, III, IV, V). Lip print pattern Type I (Complete Vertical) was found to be the dominant pattern in all three ethnic groups, with the highest dominance in the Javanese (84.61%), followed by Malay (72%), and Batak (60%). Type V (Irregular) was not found in the sample. Contrary to previous studies, this study did not find significant variations in lip print patterns among the three ethnic groups. This Type I dominance may support the view that the three share a common ancestry or is caused by inter-ethnic interactions (gene flow) in a heterogeneous university environment. Therefore, there was no significant variation in lip print patterns between the Malay, Javanese, and Batak ethnic groups in this study population, with a consistent dominance of the Type I (complete vertical) pattern.
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