Some more thoughts on lack of pattern in boas...but from the ball python world...



You have several very different morphs, such as Mojaves, Fires, and Yellowbellies...



All create similar, yet unique super forms of achromatic pythons, i.e. Blue eyed leucistics, Black eyed, Ivorys have some yellow, etc.



I don't know much about the genetics surrounding leucism in ball pythons, but I would venture to guess the genes responsible for achromatic phenotypes might be very close to each other, and simply produce different forms of leucistic ball pythons, depending which type of gene (Mojave, Fire, etc.) gets tossed into the mix with them...





So my thought is, in boas perhaps we have three different 'flavors' of patternless...Supermotleys that are very darkly pigmented, Roswells, which are basically devoid of pattern other than the stripes, and the Harlequin patternless, which is a light colored patternless morph...



Perhaps the gene responsible for creating a boa without pattern, is similar to the leucistic/achromatic gene in ball pythons...producing a different patternless appearance, depending on what other morph happens to be in there as well(Motley, laddertails/Roswell siblings, and Harlequin patternless siblings.)
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Heather Martin

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