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OK, Scoria Boas; So how did this happen?

I don't know if anyone else noticed this but, this is something really interesting that we should take some note of.

Scoria Boas. This year the original Scoria Boa was bred to a completely unrelated female and produced 18 babies. Ten of them Scoria and eight not. This just about guarantees that the Scoria is in fact a Dominant genetic trait and possibly a Co-Dominant mutation. We'll have to wait for somebody to prove them Co-Dom some time later. Two years ago this same male bred his mother and produced about half a litter of Scorias and half not. That made it look like it probably was a simple recessive trait right? Not so fast.

The first litter that produced the very first Scoria male, in 2003, had a total of seventeen babies with only one of them being the Scoria male. Wow! What an animal! But only one. The two parents came from completely different sources and different times so they were not known to be related at all. Then the same pair produced another litter in 2004. This time there were twenty five babies in the litter with one single Scoria female making her appearance. Holy Mackerel! Did lightning struck twice?

The third litter that contained any Scoria was the original male's first litter produced after breeding his Mom. Despite this, because of the really really low number of Scorias in the first two litters, only one in each, I speculated that the Scoria Boas would be a Dominant genetic trait. I didn't make any scientific tabulation to come to that conclusion. Just looking at the numbers and only two coming from a total of 42 babies I just thought it seemed really unlikely that they were a simple recessive mutation.

Now this year using an unrelated female ten of eighteen are Scoria Boas. So has anyone else thought about this? Did lightning strike twice? A single pair of animals were bred twice and produced the first two litters. Each of these litters contained a single new mutation that right now appears to be Dominant. So how did that happen? What is within these two original parents that apparently makes them genetically predisposed to crank out a brand new Dominant mutation not once but twice? Mutations are supposed to just spontaneously occur and are not "made" right? Well, something unique must be in these two animals to have had not one new mutant, but two pop up. Not only that but it is the exact same mutation that has occurred both times? Something is "making" these new Scoria Boas.

So HOW does that work?

One thing I have thought about for a while is this. Most of the time when a new "morph" pops up, it pops up from wild caught animals. They are most often imports and not captive bred. What is important about this is most of the time, a single new mutant appears with no related animals to be found. In this case, Jeff in North Dakota still has nearly all the related animals to the Scoria Boas. Another interesting case in point although slightly different is the "T-Positive Albino" Argentines and the Motley Argentines. Both came from the same bloodline. Everyone thought that was just an unbelievable coincidence. This next question has no basis in science or even logic for that matter but, "are animals that produce a new mutation just somehow more likely to have "lightning strike twice" or create more than one mutation?"

These few things have just been rolling around inside that big empty box that I call my head. Does anyone else have any thoughts along these lines or a specific explanation as to how a single pair of animals can twice produce a new mutation?
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While this isn't addressing the question, the arabesque boa also arose "spontaneously" from snakes that didn't show the trait. It is also a codominant trait. I've always found its origin interesting, but never seen it discussed since the few things Hammond wrote about it several years ago.

at this point if anything the Arabesque is Dominant, not co-dominant. There is no proof that there is a visually distinguishable ("super"-for lack of a better term) Homo form of the Arabesque..
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Chris & Alliey
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I'm just guessing Jeff, but perhaps the mutation didn't occur in the individual sperm or egg that produced the first scoria, but perhaps in the gonads of the parent animal, such that some additional eggs and sperm may have it. Maybe somewhere in the father's seminiferous tubules there was a mutation such that a small percent of that boas sperm will contain the mutation. That male might sire scorias in a small percent of each litter he throws. I'd be interested to breed the father of the original scoria to more females. Mark

That does make more sense to me too Mark. Great suggestion. One parent may be causing this to pop up and not a particular combination. Then it may still be entirely spontaneous but possibly happens with some regularity in the sperm or eggs within that parent, only a very few of which ultimately become Boas.

But then what about this?: Does that parent pass on the ability to also make the occasional spontaneous Scoria? In other words, do some of the non-Scoria sibling offspring also have the unique ability to have the occasional, although relatively infrequent, Scoria baby? Hhmmmm... Now we are getting someplace. It would be nice to get Paul Hollander to chime in on this one...
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http://anthro.palomar.edu/mendel/mendel_3.htm

This is what I have always suspected of the Harlequin line..?
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Ty
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So now what? Assuming we are on the right track, it does seem more likely that only one of the parents is passing on the mutant gene despite not having or showing it itself. Twice in 42 live babies so far that is. So how often has that happened? So far one in twenty one offspring.

This is a quantum leap, assuming that one or the other actually will regularly produce a Scoria "spontaneously", but how many sperm or eggs will actually come out Scoria? One in ten? One in 21? One in 100? One in 1000? This is why it is most exciting that this new Morph popped up in captivity to known parents of the new Morph. The opportunity is here to try to see if there is something more we can learn about how when or maybe why a mutation occurs and shows itself. I wonder if there is any precedent for this any where else in nature? Is there anything known about a "mutation maker"? And the greater question I think is this, "Will the parent that occasionally makes a Scoria Boa pass on this unique ability to any of it's other normal appearing offspring?" If it can pass that on, will half of those offspring be carriers of that ability or is it more complicated than that? It all does give a guy pause doesn't it?

I love to think about this stuff. It's the selective breeder in me I suppose that likes to tinker with ideas to see what can happen beyond the obvious. Great fun!
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while that all seems possible and I am more than slightly impressed you took the time to type that out and share with us.....I was under the impression that parental breeding had been duplicated in other instances without a "new morph" reappearng. I am probably wrong....

For the sake of discussion,

I think it would be more likely with a dominant trait than with a recessive type trait...
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There have been two breedings that I know of the original pair, each of which made one of the two Scoria Boas. There may have been an additional breeding that I am not aware of though that didn't make any of them.
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was referring to other traits aside from the Scoria.... ;O)~
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Jeff, we have seen it happen both ways now. Two animals that don't show a trait producing animals that are dominant and two animals that somehow got matched up that were recessive for the same trait and producing something new. I am hoping for the second scenario in my case. I aquired two siblings to the "patternless" animals produced by Brendan Magee. I have seen this animal in person as well as the birth pictures of the entire litter. These were unrelated animals that produced a litter with 4 patternless and 5 normal appearing siblings with 7 slugs. Unfortunately due to bad luck all have been lost except one patternless and the 2 siblings I have. All of these are females and the father was also lost. I believe that it is genetic but can only hope that it turns out recessive and the odds were just off due to the small number of offspring and high percentage of slugs. These days are definitely exciting in the world of boas though. Care to make a prediction here Jeff?

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Ty
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Don't tell anyone but I'll bet you $100 that we will be seeing more of those puppies. I hope we do. I think we have scratched the surface on what will pop up when doing more breedings of more and more outrageous animals. I hope you do make some or either one of the Magee brothers. I just think it is going to happen. I think it is going to happen to some guy in Cannon Falls too. I am not predicting that same result but wierd stuff is going to beget wierd stuff and I do think that bringing together the right combinations may increase the likelyhood of "lightning sticking twice"!

I hope so anyhow! Good luck with those two kids! They are beauties!

I love tails like that too:

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Now everyone has confirmed for them what an idiot I really am. Oh well... They never learned me no gramer neether...
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I think you're right though. Thanks for the kind words. If anyone has wild stuff to "beget" with YOU DO. Amazing animals you have "holed" up over there. Good luck in the future and congrats on the Prodigy Project!

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Ty
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