ALBINO red-backed salamander

[paulnj]

extremely rare and being fully terrestrial and living under rocks and logs, ever more rare to find.

[Sushigaijin]

That's a really cool find, Paul. Don't see those every day. Or even every decade.

[paulnj]

I was hoping you'd see this post!

She is doing great eating whiptails and outside leaf debris creatures

I was told this book has images of a few albinos, but couldn't find it to scan through without buying it
http://www.amazon.com/Salamanders-Un...3324244&sr=1-1

[Dylan8i]

paul i have that book, i'll take a look through it and let you know what i find. (theres only like a 30 page insert with color photos). its a great book though, if you want to know anything about any sally species.

[paulnj]

thanks. I heard mention of a T+ and T- albino, but can't find images or confirmed reports of more that leucistic animals in 5 different locations over the years.

[Sushigaijin]

well, for sure it's an amelanistic mutation - whether or not it's t+ or t- is usually visible by (t+) ghosting of melanin, which would lead me to believe it is t-. However, you'd need a biopsy to really see what's going on there.

IIRC it's correct to call any amelanistic mutation an "albino," as the word describes an appearance but not a cause. Likewise "amelanistic" only describes a lack of melanin, not the factors that cause the absence.

BUT, I've also heard that "albino" should only be used to describe a condition where NO pigment is present.

Leucistic animals typically are solid white and have black or blue eyes while most amelanistic critters have red eyes.

I don't do much deli-cupping anymore but it's a neat breeding project from the start because salamanders are not super common in the pet trade, and are usually wild-caught. I think about keeping eurycea just about every time I see one but I'm not sure I could keep them cold enough!!

[Grandpaw]

very unusual find, Jeff

[paulnj]

definately a Tyrosinase negative albino

[Dylan8i]

i didn't see any photos in the book of albinos at all. It does have about half a page specifically dedicated to talking about erythristic morph redbacks though, with several papers cited on them. Im going to be pretty busy this week finishing and defending my thesis, but after that i'll try to get oyu a copy of that page.

[paulnj]

Thanks Dylan. a College professor in PA might use an image in a paper on red backed

[Dylan8i]

nice, what professor/school/paper title?

[paulnj]

Don't know yet. Waiting on a friend to get back to me with the contact info. It's his professor and I don't speak with him much.