Leopard Gecko Morphs & Genetics

Fig. 1. Topaz - White and Yellow Tremper Albino Bandit from RS lineage and our DB project.

Fig. 2. Cashew - Dark Striped Tremper Albino Bandit

Polygenic Traits, Morphs, & Lines

A polygenic trait does not have a single mode of inheritance, rather many different combinations of genes contribute to the overall look of the morph. A morph describes a phenotype (how the gecko looks visually) that can be just one gene or polygenic, and a line is a group of phenotypically unique geckos of that has been worked on by a breeder and refined over time and many generations. I.e. Tangelo is a line of Tremper albinos (see Recessive Traits below). See Introduction to genetics (wiki page) for more info on the basic principles of heredity.

Banded, striped, reverse stripe, & aberrant are all polygenic traits that describe how the markings and pattern are expressed along a leopard gecko’s head, body, and tail. A banded leo (Fig. 1. Topaz) has bands that run across its body and is one of the most common wild type patterns seen. A striped leo (Fig. 2. Cashew) has bold stripes running down along a gecko’s sides, while a reverse stripe leo (Fig. 3. Maya) has a stripe (or pair of stripes) running down a gecko’s dorsal/back.

An aberrant leopard gecko has irregular patterning along the body OR tail, but not both (Fig. 4. Laurel ). The circle back is an irregular banding pattern that is fairly common, especially in juveniles, and looks like a circle on the gecko’s back. And a Jungle leopard gecko (Fig. 5. Coriander) has a pattern that is irregular on the body and tail, and is a morph first developed in 1991 by Ron Tremper.

Eyespots are very common in babies and juveniles and resemble a pair of eyes on the top of the head, which is likely an evolutionary advantage in the wild, thus why it’s so common. Many geckos lose them as they grow, however, as their pattern comes in. This trait is strongly represented in our Bandit project on into adulthood (Fig. 5. Coriander).

Bold is a polygenic trait where markings are much darker than on a normal leo (Fig. 6. Teddy).

Firebold is a line of tangerine bolds started by Carlo Maia in 2013 and later taken on by Geckoboa (Fig. 7. Nacho). Many firebolds have a distinctive striped pattern.

Bandit is a line of bold leopard geckos established by Ron Tremper where geckos have a distinctive band across the nose (Fig. 8. Gillian). Bold Bandits are Bandits that do not have the band across the nose (See Fig. 7. Teddy again). This is the line that Cinnamons/Desert Bolds popped out of (See below).

Hypo describes the lack of pattern along a gecko’s body (Fig. 9. Borage), while a super hypo lacks pattern along the body and head (note that the word “super” used here does not refer to a homozygous incomplete dominant trait). My first leo was a SHTCTB named Sprocket that I got in 2009 (See Fig. 10. Sprocket!).

Hyper Xanthic (HX) is a yellow color line established by JMG Reptile in 2002 that greatly increases yellow pigment and marking contrast (Fig. 11. Gravy). Some of the prettiest Snows are also Hyper Xanthic.

Emerine geckos have areas on the head, tail and/or body that take on a greenish color, and the G-Project (Fig. 12. Ellora), started by Matt Baronak of SaSobek Reptiles in 2006, is one of several established emerine lines.

Mack Snows came from Reptiles by Mack and are the only morph we know (so far) that can not be reliably temperature sexed. The super form creates the Super Snow (Fig. 31. Steven).

Other Traits & New Stuff!

Paradox spots are random spots that appear anywhere on a gecko that do not “belong” so to speak (Fig. 32. & Fig. 33. Kaya, Fig. 34. Dante, Fig. 35. Sorrel). We have seen them change in shape and size, sometimes appearing out of nowhere. Their inheritance is unknown at this time but they do run in some lines, so there could a genetic component to at least some of them. Our White & Yellows and Lavenders throw a lot of paradox spots, and we have had a Mack Snow hatch with a big tangerine spot on her head that she still has, though it has faded some. Kaya has some really distinct paradox spots including a very large one that has a red dot in the middle and keeps getting bigger, one on her back that has spidery edges and also continues to get bigger. Some paradox spots remind me of birthmarks, and they can even be present on Albino geckos. They are not the same as a mosaic or chimera. Atom, Kaya’s grandfather, had at least 9 paradox spots on him, and his son Tofu (her dad) has at least 2 very small ones. Steven’s father was a Super RAPTOR and had yellow paradox spots, and Steven has a darker area that might be a paradox spot, but it’s hard to tell.

Desert Bold - Our DB stock comes from KC Reptiles and B&M Geckos (Fig. 36. Toby). This gene popped out in Ron Tremper’s collection but was not understood at the time. He called it Cinnamon, and released several of these animals along with others that may not have been cinnamons but darker Tremper albinos. Over time different people got different results when working with them. Some believed Cinnamons were a line of dark Tremper albinos, while others saw dramatic results that could only be described as something genetic. Several breeders have been working with the gene and releasing some animals to the public the past few years. It is still unknown exactly what the inheritance mechanism is, but it is somehow linked to Tremper and/or eclipse.

New information is coming out as things are learned, so be sure to check in with the industry’s top leo breeders! Jon Scarborough of Geckobo’s current hypothesis is that the gene is allelic recessive with Tremper albino. In other words, two copies DB = DB and one copy DB plus one copy Tremper = Cinnamon.

Below are our own observations with our DB pairings so far. We are just starting our DB project and so will add our observations below over the next few years.