Morphs as I understand them.

[TheWolfmanTom]

Hi All!!!!!
I get alot of questions about what morph is my dragon, and in most cases I cant answer the person do to not knowing the bloodlines. However I have found that the average person is confusing color or breeder names with morphs. Almost all dragons in the states are of the species/genus of Pogona vitticeps or the common name of The central or inland bearded dragon.
Names that are often confused with morphs are Chris Allen red, cawley red, citrus, sandfire, and way to many more to list. These names are simply descriptions of colors or denotes the breeders who produced them.
Actual morphs consist of Translucent, Hypo, Leucistic, Leatherback, American Smoothie, Silkback, Silverback's, witblits, and Dunners. I will mention The paradox morph produced by Josh at Phantom dragons, but i know very little about it to be honest.
These morphs can be combined to create different variations of these morphs with some amazing looking results. Now just a quick word about "het's" This is an animal that has the genetic code of the above mentioned morphs, but the do not show the physical traits. A het hypo bred to a hypo will yield mostly hypo babies. A het hypo bred to a normal dragon will yield normal dragons. Im not going into the percentages....lol.
Translucent dragons have some very distinct features. Including black eyes, see through skin and an almost gummy like appearance around the spikes. I have found over the years that breeding 2 trans adults together can yield some unpleasant results and I never recommend doin it.
Hypo is short for hypomelanistic. Long story short is a lack of black or dark pigments in the skin, and generally clear nails. Pastel dragons are usually produced from hypo stock.
Leucistic dragons are simply very white hypo dragons. A true leucistic dragon does not exist and in most cases are sold as marketed leucistic.
Leatherbacks made their way over to the states from Italy. To put it simply they are much smoother and have smaller amounts of spikes. They are a co dominate gene meaning you breed a normal to a leather you will still get leathers. Breed 2 leathers together you get silkbacks and leathers and normals. Silkbacks have skin and no scales and require some additional care.
Witblits are from Africa and have no pattern, past that I just dont know more.
Silverbacks are from Japan and are also paternless.
Dunners are new and are produced by Kevin Dunn. Their scales go in different directions and thats all I know.
The paradox is also fairly new and is out of translucent genetics but again dont have alot of details.

Now here is MY disclaimer. I do not know all nor do I claim to. This is not set in stone and is info I am sharing as I understand it....lol

 

[tdrost]

wow, so in the couple minutes it took me to read and then re-read this, you made it all alot more clear!!!
thanks for taking the time!!

 

[Brett]

Ya Tom that helps allot exspain things better..

 

[Bill]

Great post Tom I'm going to sticky this so it dont get bumped and I will talk with Josh and see if we can keep it as a sticky.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Thanks, hope it fit the bill.

 

[tdrost]

Great post Tom I'm going to sticky this so it dont get bumped and I will talk with Josh and see if we can keep it as a sticky.

i am confused about these stickies. where do i find them?

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Stickies are posts at the top of the page that stay at the top. They "STICK" there.

 

[tdrost]

ahhh!! thanx!

 

[Brett]

Hey i found this on Rio Reptiles Kinda a breeding cheat sheet.




Crash Course in Genetics

Morph - (short for genetic Polymorphism) occurs when two or more clearly different phenotypes (visual mutation) exist in the same population of a species from which the genetic make-up (genotype) determines the outcome.
Homozygote - (homozygous) a diploid organism is one that has pairs of chromosomes with genes for the same characteristic at the same or corresponding loci, usually one from each parent. Breeding organisms are always homozygous for the traits that are held constant.
Het - (short for Heterozygote or Heterozygous) when an animal possesses two different alleles of a gene at the same or corresponding loci. If a trait in question is dominant, a het will express (visually) only the trait coded by the dominant allele and the trait coded by the recessive allele will not be expressed visually, yet can be passed on to offspring.
Mutation - changes in the genomic sequence or DNA coding which results in a visible characteristic or homozygous phenotype, usually recessive.

Codominant - (Supergenes) this is where the Leatherbacks & Dunners fit in

There are lots of articles explaining genetics that refer to dominant and recessive genes, genotype or phenotype, even homozygous and heterozygous, but what comes out of all that when you start mixing hypos, trans, hets and what not? Lets make a simple chart so we don't have to do the Punnett square for all of them.
Normal - a dragon with no recessive traits such as hypomelanism or translucent.
Hypo - a dragon that visually displays the hypo trait or is homozygous for hypomelansim, characterized by a mutation that results in an absence or reduction of any dark or black/brown pigments in the skin cells, usually very light with clear nails or brighter and more vivid when deeply colored, also can occur in varying degrees.
Trans - a dragon that visually displays the trans trait or is homozygous for translucent, visually characterized by a mutation that causes absence of the opaque or white pigment within the skin cells and eyes, also occurs in varying degrees.
Hypo Trans - a dragon that visually displays both traits or is homozygous for hypomelanism and translucent
Het Hypo - a normal looking dragon that is recessive or heterozygous for hypomelanism
Het Trans - a normal looking dragon that is recessive or heterozygous for translucent
Double Het - a normal looking dragon that is recessive or heterozygous for both hypomelanism and translucent
Hypo Het Trans - a dragon that is homozygous for hypomelanism but heterozygous for translucent
Trans Het Hypo - a dragon that is homozygous for translucent but heterozygous for hypomelansm

So what happens when you start breeding the different phenotypes and genotypes?
(percentages are only approximate and never guaranteed)
Normal x Normal = 100% Visual Normal (phenotype & genotype)
Hypo x Hypo = 100% Visual Hypos (phenotype & genotype)
Trans x Trans = 100% Visual Trans (phenotype & genotype)
Normal x Hypo = 100% Visual Normal (phenotype) Het Hypo (genotype)
Normal x Trans = 100% Visual Normal (phenotype) Het Trans (genotype)
Normal x Hypo Trans = 100% Visual Normal (phenotype) 100% Double Heterozygous for Hypo & Trans (genotype)
Hypo x Trans = 100% Visual Normal (phenotype) Double Het Hypo & Trans (genotype)
Hypo het Trans x Trans = 50% Visual Normal (phenotype) het Trans (genotype) 50% Visual Trans (phenotype) het Hypo (genotype)
Trans het Hypo x Hypo = 50% Visual Normal (phenotype) het Hypo (genotype) 50% Visual Hypo (phenotype) het Trans (genotype)
Hypo het Trans x Trans het Hypo = 25% Hypo Trans (phenotype & genotype) 25% Hypo (phenotype) het Trans (genotype) 25% Trans (phenotype) het Hypo (genotype) 25% Normal (phenotype) Double het Hypo & Trans (genotype)
Normal x Normal het Hypo = 50% Visual Normal (phenotype & genotype) 50% Visual Normal (phenotype) het Hypo (genotype)
Normal x Normal het Trans = 50% Visual Normal (phenotype & genotype) 50% Visual Normal (phenotype) het Hypo (genotype)
Normal het Hypo x Normal het Hypo = 75% Normal (phenotype) of which 33% are Normal (phenotype & genotype) and 66% are het Hypo (genotype) 25% Visual Hypo (phenotype & genotype)
Normal het Trans x Normal het Trans = 75% Normal (phenotype) of which 33% are Normal (phenotype & genotype) and 66% are het Trans (genotype) 25% Visual Trans (phenotype & genotype)
Normal het Hypo x Normal het Trans = 100% Visual Normal (phenotype) of which 25% are het Hypo (genotype) and 25% are het Trans (genotype) and 25% are double het for Hypo & Trans (genotype)
Hypo het Trans x Hypo het Trans = 100% Visual Hypo (phenotype) of which 25% are Visual Hypo & Trans (phenotype) and of the remaining 75%, 66% are Visual Hypo (phenotype) het Trans (genotype) or 50% of the total.
Trans het Hypo x Trans het Hypo = 100% Visual Trans (phenotype) of which 25% are Visual Hypo & Trans (phenotype) and of the remaining 75%, 66% are Visual Trans (phenotype) het Hypo (genotype) or 50% of the total.
Normal Double Het x Hypo het Trans = 50% Normal het Hypo 50% Visual Hypo (phenotype) of which 25% either Normal or Hypo will also be Trans and of the remaining 75%, 66% will be het for Trans.
Normal Double Het x Trans het Hypo = 50% Normal het Trans 50% Visual Trans (phenotype) of which either Normal or Trans will also be Hypo and of the remaining 75%, 66% will be het for Hypo.

In bearded dragons there are also proven Genetic Tigers and Genetic Patternless (whitblits or silverbacks)

 

[tdrost]

thanks Brett...but you went and added the math to it ... now I am confused again!.
LOL, just kidding, great find!

 

[Bill]

Good find Brett ..and let's remember that breeding some of these together is not for the faint of heart there can be the chance of some really bad defects you will have to be prepared to put some down, so breed with caution. Breeding morphs has caused many health problems and but threw selective breeding breeders have been able to maintain a healthy dragon but not like there wild kin.

 

[Bill]

Hay guys and Girls I'm thinking of locking this so we don't clog it up what do you think,we can always unlock it if some one has some new info to add.

 

[Brett]

I think it would be good

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Makes no diff to me.
The math is a little fuzzy but its a decent guideline.

 

[Brett]

Ya i dont know how right on this is. figured id post it and you guys with more experience can make any correction if needed.

 

[drgnfly2265]

Great thread!

That explains Yaddle which is Hypo citrus x sandfire. i wondered why her color was so light.

 

[Exile Skimmer]

i really love this thread but im confused on my beardie "Big Momma" and she is dark when she is cold all brown and darker but when she heats up under the lamp she turns light and almost into a yellow and blue striped. . . so what does it make her

 

[Brett]

That's common with all dragons go by the color when she light.

 

[Exile Skimmer]

ok so what is the yellow and blue striped beardies called. . . .

((this is not my beardie)) i found it on google images to give an idea of what im talking about

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

A very colorful dragon. Please dont think im being funny or rude. With out knowing the genetics that went into it we can guess all day, and thats what ALOT of amateur breeders do. This animal could have citrus, sandfire, plain orange, chis allen red, cawley red, and any other color of the rainbow in there.