Perry,

The picture shows slight bulges in the tail, but I would not consider them substantial enough to be hemipenile bulges.

I have seen a good amount of female chucks in general that show a lot of black on the head and limbs, not just in redbacks. In any population, you will see a lot of variation. I know most field guides say that females are usually brown, strongly banded on the body and tail, but this is just not the case for all locales. In most of the locales that I have been to, it seems like some females are kind of non descript, and others look like toned down versions of the males.

I Don't know if anyone has studied the breeding success among females who look more like males. I think as long as they are still acting like females, it shouldn't affect breeding success. The male chucks will know at a glance if the lizard is a female.

As far as the white tail on a female red back, I don't think I have seen it, but I am not familiar with that locale. I have seen a lot of female granites with white tails, though. I think that also just depends on the population. If I remember the ad, the males from there had a lot of white speckling on the back, and a white tail, right? I would expect a "male mimic" female from such a population to get a light colored tail.

I wouldn't worry too much about the quality of breeder your girl will be, I'm sure she will be fine. She is also kind of in the middle, as far as male characteristics go. A friend of ours owns a female yellow tail who is almost all black, with a light tail, very similar to the overall apearance of males from her locale. She is a male mimic, if I've ever seen one.



Nick

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