List of Cornsnake Genes
The following are the base genes that are known in cornsnakes. Combinations of these are used to make compound morphs, many of which also have names. The listed year is when they first appeared in the Cornsnake Morph Guide. For a detailed discussion of each gene, its effects, symbology, photos, and hypermacro, please see the 2011 Edition.
The Albino locus:
- Amelanism (amel) - Removes melanin from the pattern.
- Ultra (2005) - Reduces opacity/density of melanin in the pattern.
Genotypes:
- Wild-type/Wild-type - normal appearance.
- Wild-type/Amel (het amel) - normal appearance.
- Wild-type/Ultra (het ultra) - normal appearance.
- Amel/Amel - Pattern contains no melanin. The snake is amelanistic.
- Ultra/Ultra - Pattern contains reduced melanin. Dark areas are lighter than in normals, but not as light as ultramels.
- Ultra/Amel (ultramel) - Pattern contains reduced melanin. Dark areas are much lighter than normals.
The Hypo locus:
- Hypomelanism (hypo) - Reduces melanin in the pattern, thins border areas and can lighten checkers.
- Strawberry (2010) (straw) - Reduces melanin in the pattern without washing out the red colors.
- Christmas (2011) (xmas) - Reduces melanin in the pattern without washing out the red colors.
Genotypes:
- Wild-type/Wild-type - normal appearance.
- Wild-type/Hypo (het hypo) - normal appearance.
- Wild-type/Strawberry (het strawberry) - normal appearance.
- Wild-type/Christmas (het christmas) - normal appearance.
- Hypo/Hypo - Pattern has reduced melanin and thinned border areas. Overall color is more orange than normal counterparts.
- Strawberry/Strawberry - Pattern has reduced melanin and an overall red color instead of orange.
- Christmas/Christmas - Reduced melanin and a deep red overall coloration. Borders may look greenish under certain circumstances.
- Hypo/Strawberry - Overall coloration can be anywhere between that of hypo and strawberry.
- Hypo/Christmas - One specimen is known to exist, its coloration is somewhat intermediate but more like (orange) hypo rather than (red) christmas.
- Strawberry/Christmas - One specimen is known to exist. Its coloration is intermediate between strawberry and christsmas.
This is the first locus in cornsnakes to have 3 known mutant genes.
The Sunkissed locus:
- Sunkissed (Recessive) - Reduces melanin (hypodendritic melanophores and fewer in number) and reduces saddle areas by varying amounts.
The Lava locus:
- Lava (Recessive, 2004) - Reduces melanin, by producing a cellular mosaic of two types of melanophores with one being nearly invisible, and brightens colors. Lava tends to smooth out the pattern and often leaves a white stripe in the center of the belly.
The Dilute locus:
- Dilute (Recessive, 2007) - Reduces melanin (adendritic melanophores) but tends to produce a cooler color temperature as opposed to warmer colors on most corns.
The Anery locus:
- Anerythrism (Recessive) - Removes all red and orange coloration from the snake, typically leaving blacks, grays, and browns.
The Charcoal locus:
- Charcoal (Recessive) - Removes all red and orange coloration from the snake, typically leaving blacks, grays, and browns. Charcoals often have reduced or no iridophore pattern, leading to lower contrast color schemes compared to anerythristic cornsnakes. This also helps in producing patternless blizzards.
The Caramel locus:
- Caramel (Recessive) - Reduces red and orange coloration on the snake, typically leaving brown saddles and yellowish ground color.
The Lavender locus:
- Lavender (Recessive) - Removes almost all red and orange coloration from the snake, and reduces melanin. Typically leaves various shades of gray and light browns. Various amounts of pink/orange can appear on the ground color.
The Cinder locus:
- Cinder (Recessive, 2006) - Removes red and orange coloration from the snake, typically leaving blacks, grays, and browns. Saddles can gain a subtle dark brick reddish color as the snake becomes a young adult. Gained reds can also fade back out after a few years. The pattern is often affected, with a white stripe down the center of the belly, and a "dovetail" head pattern that connects to a few split saddles on the neck.
The Kastanie locus:
- Kastanie (Recessive, 2008) - Reduces red and orange coloration leaving a hypoerythristic look. This was also proven to be the cause of the distinctive coloration of "rosy bloods."
The Buf locus:
- Buf (Dominant, 2010) - Reduces red and orange coloration leaving a look similar to caramels but not as extreme. It is either dominant or codominant.
The Diffused locus:
- Diffused (Recessive) - Reduces side pattern and produces a checkerless belly. This is the most well-known component of bloodred corns.
The Masque locus:
- Masque (Dominant, 2007) - Reduces belly pattern, stretches the head pattern and slightly lightens overall color. Expression is much more extreme in males, and females can be difficult to identify. It may be sex-linked as well. Masque augments the expression of diffusion and is typically present in high-quality bloodred corns.
Pied-sided:
- Pied-sided (Unknown, 2006) - Appears to augment the expression of diffusion. It is heritable and can be reproduced in a fairly predictable manner across multiple generations, but the exact mode of inheritence has not been determined.
The Terrazzo locus:
- Terrazzo (Recessive, 2008) - Creates a striped/broken pattern and produces a checkerless belly. The amount of striping varies between individuals, but going back from the head it typically breaks up into small chaotic chunks and can become patternless.
The Motley locus:
- Motley - Elongates/connects saddles and produces a checkerless belly. Can vary from few to no connected saddles, some or all connected sadles creating a circleback pattern, with varying amounts of pinstriping from none to completely pinstriped.
- Stripe - Produces a 4-lined stripe pattern with two dorsal and two lateral stripes, and a checkerless belly.
Genotypes:
- Wild-type/Wild-type - normal appearance.
- Wild-type/Motley (het motley) - normal appearance.
- Wild-type/Stripe (het stripe) - normal appearance.
- Motley/Motley - Motley pattern.
- Stripe/Stripe - Stripe pattern.
- Stripe/Motley (motley het stripe) - Motley pattern.
The Tessera locus:
- Tessera (Dominant, 2009) - Typically creates a striped dorsal pattern and broken/shattered (tessellated) lateral pattern. The striping when present is usually unbroken, with wider saddle-colored stripes compared to the 4-lined stripes. Belly can have checkers or be plain. The pattern can vary a lot between individuals and several subtypes are being established.
The Palmetto locus:
- Palmetto (Recessive) - Produces a solid white snake with small blotches (usually one or a few scales in size) of random cornsnake colors.
The Stillman locus:
- Stillman (Recessive) - Produces a twin-spotted dorsal pattern where saddles are split between left and right and zigzagged.
The Micropave locus:
- Micropave (Recessive) - Reduces the size of the scales.
The Short-tail locus:
- Short-tail (Dominant, 2007) - Produces a shorter/thicker tail. Radiographs have shown the vertebrae in the tail are misaligned and this is generally considered a defect.
The Stargazer locus:
- Stargazer (Recessive, 2007) - Causes a neurological disorder where the snake has difficulty telling which way is up. Stargazer corns also typically have intention tremors. This is considered a defect and many breeders are working to test their lines and remove the stargazer gene from their future progeny.