Those are some cute little critters!. Love the little "belly button" scar on the greener one there..LOL!

The way I see it, the term "melanistic" is often seen used interchangeably with the term "hypermelanistic". Generally I think the term "melanistic" is probably more accurately applied to animals that are totally black, and "hypermelanistic" is probably best for describing animals that still display some form of patterns and other colors, even if they are fairly obscured by the melanin (or not), as long as there is an "over-abundance" of melanin. That little dude there still displays the normal red ear markings and the same "basic" amount of yellow the other one does with the exception of very heavy melanin pigment in the greener coloration.

As weird as it seems, there are no actual green or blue pigments producing by reptiles. Instead, it is the way a human eye perceives these colors when the varying wave lengths of light are reflected back to the eye and processed.

Iridophores, unlike other types of chromatophores (pigment cells), do not produce actual pigments per se. Instead they contain deposits of purines. These deposits are crystalline in nature and reflect varying amounts of light and in different wave lengths. The way the light is reflected is determined by the type of purines and the way the crystals are oriented. These structures control the appearance and reflection of green, blue and red light to our eyes. The primary forms of purines in reptiles are guanine, hypoxanthine, and adenine.

Iridophores appear to be most concentrated in areas lacking melanophores (i.e. xanthophores) and may play a role in blocking harmful UV radiation contained in sunlight.

From what I have researched, these cristalline structures that would pre-dominantly be lying in different layers and in slightly different shapes and angles around the yellow pigment cells(xanthophores), etc... In combination with varying degrees of melanin would be displayed as different shades of greens and blues. Iguanas and Green Tree Pythons would be a great example of this, and the very blue form of certain gravid chondros would as well.

Not trying to be "Mr. Science wizard" here, but this sh!* is pretty interesting to me. After all, this crazy stuff just just happen by magic, there is a natural reason for every single thing we see in these awesome reptiles we mess with every single day..LOL!



later, ~Doug



-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"


serpentinespecialties.webs.com

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