Tangerine

What Tangerine looks like

Orange color enhancement

Tangerine is a polygenic (line-bred) trait that enhances orange pigmentation on the body. It is defined as a gecko that has orange pigment anterior of (in front of) the tail base. Because Tangerine is polygenic. Controlled by multiple genes. There is no simple Mendelian inheritance ratio. Expression is highly variable and is strengthened by selective breeding (crossing the most orange animals together over multiple generations). Tangerine is NOT a single-gene morph and cannot be used in a standard genetics calculator as a simple allele. However, it is one of the most important and widely recognized traits in the hobby. Sub-categories include: Hypo Tangerine (reduced spotting + orange), Super Hypo Tangerine (no body spots + orange), Carrot Tail (orange tail coloration), and Carrot Head (orange head coloration). The best tangerine animals show deep, vivid orange coloration across the entire body.

How to identify it: Tangerine: Orange pigmentation on the body anterior to the tail base. Intensity ranges from subtle light orange to deep, vivid tangerine depending on the quality of the line. Super Hypo Tangerine (SHT): No body spots combined with rich orange coloration. One of the most popular and recognizable leopard gecko appearances. Carrot Tail: Orange pigmentation on at least 15% of the tail. Carrot Head: Orange pigmentation on the head. The best Tangerine animals combine all these features. Quality varies enormously between lines. Poor tangerine breeding produces washed-out animals, while top-quality lines produce deep, vivid orange.

How Tangerine is inherited

Tangerine follows a polygenic inheritance pattern, carried on the Tangerine allele (locus Tangerine).