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Posted by Terry on July 24, 2002 at 13:05:29:
In Reply to: Lets open the discussion up to color .... posted by Jeff S on July 24, 2002 at 00:31:10:
1. if the ruby eyed kings you cite as examples look like they have retained some melanin, which i think is what you're suggesting, if they look like other morphs called hypos, then isn't it possible that no matter what we call them, the name is wrong and they are in fact demonstrably hypos, not amels? I think we're just looking thru the binocs from different ends on this issue.
2. why do you assume amelanism would have the same affect on skin beneath scales, but that hypomelanism would not? At least I think that's what you were suggesting by the test you proposed.
And a few thoughts:
You says, ". in ANY of these "hypo" morphs is ANY black(melanin) EVER present?" Remember that Chris, in his post below, argues melanin is brown (which I'll admit confuses me a little) and Bechtel says melanin produces browns and blacks in reptiles. So with your lightbulb example (which i thought was very useful by the way) changes in the melanin production might shift like a dimmer, but from black to brown instead of black to gray, which i had earlier suggested. That would certainly explain the brown rings on coastal plains hypos, pyro hypos, etc.
And because a "hypo"melanin gene alteration (morph) on one subspecies might be different--might alter the production to a different degree--than on another ssp, we shouldn't be surprised to see variations in hypos of different kinds. Since melanin production may be regulated by several different genes, it's not unreasonable to think (and I think you agree with this based on your belief there might be different albino morphs) it's not unreasonable to think we could eventually see several different hypo morphs of the same subspecies, genetically distinct, maybe one extremely light, another much darker. Each would still exhibit individual variation just as the normal wild type does, but the two would be genetically different and have different effects on appearance. And yes, they could eventually be bred together so that BOTH effects occur on the same animal, reducing the melanin even more.
BTW, i wrote earlier about bird morphs: It was a straighforward though time-consuming process to cross the yellow-bodied Gouldian finch (co-dominant, lacking green pigment and blue-contributing feather structure, leaving only the yellow pigment showing) X the blue-bodied Gould (lacking yellow pigment so leaving only the blue color created by barbs on the feather structure) to produce a bird that combined BOTH effects--the animals lacked blue AND yellow, resulting in a whitish-silver animal.
::::Hey, thats it guys!! All we have to do now is convince Terry to skin a couple snakes,lol,Jeff
gotta run, jeff, sharpening my knives...
