#Erythrin

[calochortus]

Erythrine by Harald Biecker Via Flickr: Erythrine crystals from Bou Azer in two generations; FOV 8 mm, stacked with helicon Focus Erythrinkristalle in zwei Generationen, Aghbar, Bou Azzer Marokko, BB 8 mm; gestackt mit Helicon, Nikon D7000 an Nikon Balken auf Stackmasterschlitten mit Componon S 50.

[ethnoplants]

🌱L'arbre corail ou Erythrina est un arbuste produisant de magnifiques fleurs roses en été. Les graines de l'Erythrine crête de coq sont rouges et servent à la fabrication de bijoux ethniques. Très bel arbuste à découvrir. Graines actuellement disponibles sur le site ethnoplants. #erythrine #erythrina #arbre #corail #arbrecorail #coraltree #coralplant #cretedecoq #fleur #fleurs #floraison #arbuste #ethnoplants #flower #flowers #arbustes #arbres #arbol #arboles #arboldecoral #plantecorail #jardin #jardinage #jardiner #graines https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp0YPT9o6GE/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[omg-snakes]

I just wanted to check - there are albino corns, right? I know there are Snows and Blizzard morphs. Snake Discovery did a corn snake hatching vid recently and seemed to think there were no albino corn snakes, so I was a little confused. (They also didn't know the difference between Tessera, Motley, and Stripe though so I think they are just generally uninformed)

Hey friend!

I think the source of confusion here is that the term "albino" is a colloquialism developed for humans that doesn't totally work for reptiles.

The root Latin word, albus, just means "white." The term albino was originally coined by Portuguese and Spanish colonizers (boooo!) to refer to the children of Black slaves who were born without melanin. It then went on to describe any animal without pigment, particularly the black pigment melanin, which resulted in white hair, pink skin, and pink or very light blue eyes.

As science marched on and we gained a better understanding of how genetics and pigment work, we came to realize that there are multiple pigments at play in most animals. Even humans, whose main pigment is melanin, have two different kinds of melanin which result in the rich diversity of skin tones across the human species! Albinism works as a descriptor for humans because we only have melanin, but it falls apart fast when we start applying it to other forms of life.

So in corn snakes there are three main pigments: melanin (black), erythrin (red), and xanthin (yellow).

An amelanistic, or Amel, corn snake is by definition an "albino" with no melanin and red eyes. But they look like this:

That doesn't exactly look white...

If we're looking for white snakes to call albino, a Snow corn snake has amelanism and anerythrism in combination, but they still have yellow xanthin pigment. A Blizzard, on the other hand, is a combination of amelanism and a slightly different mutation called Charcoal that removes both erythrin and xanthin. By the original intent of the word, a Blizzard would probably be an "albino" but a Snow might not fit the bill. Or might, depending on who's deciding, since they technically lack melanin!

To bring up another example of pigment mutations, leucism is the absence of all pigment, not just melanin. This mutation is most commonly found in birds and reptiles. Leucism and albinism look similar, and the mutations do similar things from a "looking at animals on the outside" perspective, but they're genetically distinct from each other!

It falls into semantics and discourse, so I think the easiest way to go about it is to think of albinism as a blanket term to describe a range of genetic color morphs found in mammals, but not a scientific description of what's actually happening. We could probably skip using it to describe reptiles because even when it's technically applicable, it's not the whole story.

I'll end this by saying that YouTubers in general are entertainers, not educators, and I don't think I'd take anything any of them say seriously unless they're providing references. Snakes are a huge and diverse group of lifeforms, and even if one were to know every detail there is to know about one species, that knowledge may only tenuously apply to even a similar-looking species.

This is exactly why exotics veterinarians are expensive and why you should treat them very kindly and with a great deal of respect.

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Random thought but I was just thinking about how ball python morphs basically come in every color of the rainbow except for green, why’s that? And would it theoretically be possible to even get a green one? (I remember you’re red green colorblind so apologies for the tricky ask)

Great question - that's because morphs can work with colors a snake already has, but they can't create something that isn't already there.

Check out a normal ball python:

They've got black, red, and yellow pigments (melanin, xanthin, and erythrin). Ball pythons can be any combination of those colors - browns, blacks, whites, yellows, etc.

But in snakes, what we see as green is actually usually a combination of xanthin (yellow) and blue structural color. Structural coloration is different from pigments, and that's when an animal has small micro-surfaces on the scales (or feathers!) that interfere with light in order to make it look like a color. That's basically the only way we see blue-colored animals, blue pigments are super rare.

That's also why bright green snakes, like the white-lipped tree pit viper, tend to have blue color phases. It's because those structures that look like blue already exist, and what we're actually seeing is the absense of yellow.

Does that make sense? Ball pythons can't be green because they just don't have the tools to make it!

[reloaderror]

despite living in a literal cobalt mine they’ll really be like “the only colours are gray. and blue” as if erythrin isnt pink.

[ashposhmarkley5]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: 6 Pairs Heel Cushion Pads Shoe Grip Liner Foot Protection 🤎.

[pink-froggie]

🎀 Erythrine 🎀

Lapis Lazuli / Ruby

[athena-thumbellina]

I love his lil yellow cheeks 🥺 if you can’t make your own erythrin pigments, storebought is fine

[akhuna01]

Some Micro-Mounts from the Rock collection

Erythrin found in Alpbach, Austria, found 1986

Anatas, Brookit from Grauleiten, Austria, found 1983

Amethyst and Calcite from Grube Clara, Germany, ca 1991

Rutil and others, Ankogel, Austria 1982

Unlabeled, Brixlegg, Austria, 1987

Pyrite and Hematite, Brixlegg, Austria, 1987

[omg-snakes]

I'm not totally sure, but I suspect little Bean is a Peach Pewter (Diffused Charcoal). Since Charcoal prevents erythrin and xanthin expression, and Peach also reduces melanin slightly (but increases xanthin, which we're not seeing regardless because of the Charcoal), the resulting snake would look similar to a hypomelanistic Diffused Charcoal, which she pretty much does. Her siblings from 2022 have the same parents but were much darker and had "typical" dark Charcoal eyes.

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

How is it that albino snakes aren’t always pure white but leucistic snakes are? like how can snakes have no pigment but still have patterns and colors on them?

Wonderful question!!

So, albino, put simply, prevents the snake's cells from producing the pigment melanin. But melanin isn't the only pigment snakes usually have! Their cells also normally produce xanthin (yellow pigment), carotenoid (yellow/orange), and/or erythrin (red). Albino snakes will always have red eyes, because without the pigment that normally makes snake eyes black or brown, the only color comes from the blood vessels inside the eye.

Take ball pythons for example - ball pythons are normally a tan-ish color and black, right? Their normal coloration includes both melanin for the black and xanthin, which combines with the melanin to make the brown. Take away the melanin, and you're left with just yellow.

Leucism, though, is the total loss of ALL pigmentation on the snake's scales! Leucism, unlike albinism, can affect only parts of the snake. That's what piebald ball pythons are!

Completely leucistic snakes will always have blue or grey eyes - this is the only place on a completely leucistic snake's body where they'll have any pigmentation at all.

Cool, right?

[philoursmars]

Marseille. 

La bastide Borély et son parc, bordé par l’Huveaune.

L’étrange plante à fleurs cornues rouges est une Erythrine crête-de-coq (Fabacées). (bon il y avait un panneau à côté, qui expliquait tout ça...)

[stamp-it-to-me]

two 1969 DDR stamps depicting fluorite and erythrin

[fossilien-schmuck-mineralien]

Mineralien Erythrin. Fundort Bou Azzer, Marokko. Hier im Geschäft. (hier: Fossilien Schmuck Mineralien Kunert) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVPzcC_ARC0/?utm_medium=tumblr

[wigmund]

From Mindat.Org Photo Of The Day; July 17, 2018:

Maghrebite: MgAl2(AsO4)2(OH)2·8H2O; Nováčekite; Zeunerite: Cu(UO2)2(AsO4)2·12H2O; Erythrite: Co3(AsO4)2·8H2O

Locality: Tamdrost, Bou Azzer District (Bou Azer District), Tazenakht, Ouarzazate Province, Drâa-Tafilalet Region, Morocco

“Maghrebite, Novacekite, Zeunerite, Erythrine. Tamdrost, Bou-azzer, MAROC. Collected by:Robert Pecorini, Photo: P. Clolus; FOV: 5mm C”