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Originally Posted by Reptilia So... Hypo (reduced melanin), Hyper (increased melanin), melanistic (black), amelanistic (?) White, Albino? |
amelanistic means, literally, without melanin (the Latin prefix 'a-' means 'without'). In animals that are coloured only by melanins (and there are different types of melanins), then an amelanistic animal looks white and has pink or red eyes eg. mammals, like humans, rabbits, wallabies etc. The word albino has been attributed to these animals.
Albino is a portuguese word, derived from the Latin word alba (meaning white) and the Portuguese modifier '-ino' which means 'has the appearance' (or words to that effect). It literally means something that is white.
Birds and reptiles have another sort of pigment called xanthins, that produces yellow colours. Many amelanistic reptiles still have their patterns, but marked in bold yellow. These animals are correctly termed amelanistic, but are usually refered to as 'albinos', which is not correct because albinos are all white (with pink eyes).
I've heard it stated that, as albino mammals have no melanin, then the word albino must mean "no melanin". Hence the confusion (I blame the Americans).
Thankfully, the bird world refers to an amelanistic, but xanthic, bird as a Lutino (or similar). They reserve albino for all white birds. Some hairsplitters even go so far to say that a true albino mutation is one mutation that jointly affects both the melanin and xanthic producing genes simultaneously, but there's no need for us to go there.
Just my 2 cents worth. Hope that clears things up a little.
Hix
