I found this one link that indicates that the homozygous dominant spot Syrian hamsters are re-absorbed. I suppose it might be hard to tell though unless you where watching as they where born.



Other pages had interesting notes on the subject. One pointed out that the ratio of dominant spots to normals in the litters from dominant spot X dominant spot is 2:3 rather than the expected 3:4 if it where dominant and not lethal (this is because the expected 1:4 homozygous dominant spot don't exist). Another pointed out that this gene is dominant in respect to coat color but recessive in respect to viability. I prefer to think of it as co-dominant (the homozygous is different than the heterozygous in that it's dead and the heterozygous is different than the normal) but it's an interesting idea that different aspects of the same mutation could be classified with different inheritance.



I’m actually hoping that Spider is completely dominant and that a homozygous one will be proven. It’s not the end of the world if it is lethal homozygous either, I suspect it would then be used like the dominant spot gene in hamsters – generally on one side only of a pair. Just a little more incentive for all the neat spider crosses.
Dominant Spot Hamster Page

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