Crested Gecko morph
Crested Gecko (Correlophus ciliatus)
Recessive; creates bi-color and patternless phenotypes through melanin modulation
Melanin-producing trait that creates various phenotypes including bi-color, patternless, buckskin, cream, and tan appearances. Blends melanin with base colors, particularly visible on yellow-based animals. Expression ranges from high dominance (strong bi-color, patternless) to low dominance (subtle melanin blending). Affects pattern expression and can suppress white pattern on raised scalation. Key finding: bi-color, patternless, buckskin, cream, and tan are NOT separate traits. They are all phenotypic expressions of the single Phantom trait.
How to identify it: Rule 1: Any bi-color or patternless animal has Phantom. Rule 2: Yellow-based animal with melanin blending (buckskin, cream, tan) = Phantom; clean yellow = Hypo. Rule 3: On Pinstripe animals, White Pattern fades tail-to-head when Phantom present. Rule 4: Lower dominance Phantom + Pinstripe shows darker head, lower lateral pattern present, upper lateral absent.
Phantom follows a recessive inheritance pattern, carried on the Phantom allele (locus PH).
Because Phantom is recessive, an animal needs two copies of the allele to show the trait visually. An animal with a single copy is called het phantom (heterozygous). A het animal looks normal but carries the gene, so pairing two het phantom animals produces, on average, one in four visual phantom offspring.
Phantom Pinstripe
Phantom suppresses White Pattern on Pinstripe raised scalation, creating distinctive pattern fade from tail to head.
Bicolor
Distinct color difference between dorsal and lateral areas created by Phantom's selective melanin addition. NOT a separate trait - descriptor of Phantom phenotype.
Patternless
Little to no pattern showing due to pattern color suppression caused by Phantom. NOT A TRAIT - combo morph where Phantom suppresses pattern visibility.
Cream
Phenotypic outcome of homozygous Phantom expressed on a Yellow Base background. Produces cream to buckskin base coloration with melanin blending. Not a standalone heritable trait.
OG Noir
Double recessive: homozygous Axanthic (x/x) and homozygous Phantom (PH/PH). Axanthic removes warm red and yellow pigment while Phantom provides a silver-grey base, producing a striking achromatic gecko.
Axanthic Phantom
Axanthic removes yellow/red while Phantom adds melanin blending, creating monochrome grey-black animals.
Silver / Grey Phantom
Phantom melanin blending combined with Hypo lightening creates silver/grey coloration.
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