Color & pattern variations in cornsnakes


	[Melanins] [Erythrins] [Patterns] [Selection] [Combos] [Oddities] [A-what-istic???]

Pattern genes are those which affect the location, size, or absence/presence of the different markings. Please note that there is no such thing as a "pattern gene" or a "color gene" and these categories are only used for our convenience. Most pattern genes have an effect on colors, and many color genes have an effect on the pattern.

· Motley extends the edges of the saddles to create a ladder-like pattern. The dorsal patterning on motleys is highly variable and they can have anything from no connected saddles to all of them. Although the ventral checkering is also removed, this does not mean the belly has to be pure white. The wash of colors found on many different corns will also appear on motleys, as well as some black peppering. The important part of the "plain belly" is the loss of rectangular markings. A newly discovered exception to this rule is the presence of intermittent checkering on sunkissed motleys. Motleys are also selecetively bred for "hurricane" patterns where the insides of the saddles are faded out. Other variations in the pattern are q-tipping and pin-striping.

· Stripe is an allele on the motley locus and is recessive to motley. (Corns heterozygous for motley and stripe take on the motley phenotype.) The ventral pattern resembles that of motleys. The dorsal pattern consists of four thin saddle-colored stripes. Stripes also vary into "cubed" morphs, where squarish borderless markings on the back will appear instead of (or along with) the striping.

· Diffusion is the main gene involved in bloodred corns. It tends to diffuse out the side pattern. In the 80's, Kathy & Bill Love originally named the bloodred morph based on its coloration. In 2004, recognizing that the bloodred morph contained a pattern gene, they suggested that the pattern be called diffused or diffusion. Many hobbyists including myself have supported this recommendation and as a result it is now possible to draw the distinction between diffused corns only expressing the on/off gene, and bloodred corns with the extra selection. Diffusion is highly variable and its effect can be anywhere from mild and almost unnoticed, to extreme where the pattern cuts off and becomes a blur at the edges of the saddles. The ventral checkering on diffused corns is also wiped out, but as with motley there may be peppering and washes of colors. This gene is currently considered codominant but it may turn out that the diffusion gene is recessive and other influences are causing what is being thought of as the phentoype of hets.

· Pied-sided was first discovered in bloodreds and it is unknown whether this is an allele to diffusion, or if it is an independent gene that stacks its effect on top of diffusion to produce the pied-sided morph. Outcrosses are being made and should eventually provide us with clues to whether it can be separated from diffusion. The simplest way to describe this morph is that it slows the downward pattern migration so much that the belly pattern appears on the sides of the snake.

· Terrazzo is a simple-recessive gene which causes a ventral pattern resembling that of motleys and stripes. The dorsal pattern is somewhat like an aztec stripe. It is currently being investigated as a possible allele to motley.

· Masque is a mild pattern gene and appears to be codominant and possibly sex-linked. It may be an agent in the production of bloodred corns, as it seems to have mild melanin-reducing, border-reducing, and pattern-stretching effects. The most obvious characteristics are found in males and consist of a stretched head pattern often producing a "skull" look, and a "white stripe" down the center of the belly where checkers do not reach the middle.

· Sunkissed is usually considered a color but is also worth mentioning here. The pattern effect is one of increased ground areas and/or eroded saddles. As with most patterns, it is highly variable. In the milder specimens the saddles are more rectangular, and in the extreme specimens the saddles are reduced to ovals.


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