Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#1498843
Digrammia atrofasciata

Digrammia atrofasciata
29.797499, -100.998049, Val Verde County, Texas, USA
March 7, 2018
Assuming this really is D. atrofasciata, this is what we vertebrate biologists would call a tyrosinase-positive albino.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

There are different types of albinism
Tyrosinase-positive albinism is a condition of color and pattern created by a mutation of the gene that is the blueprint for melanin. Tyrosinase is an enzyme that is a catalyst in the synthesis of melanin. In the case of tyrosinase-positive albinism, the amino acid cysteine is inserted into the melanin pigment molecule during its synthesis to create phaeomelanin. Instead of black and gray melanin pigments in the pigment holding cells (chloroplasts), phaeomelanin is substituted. Phaeomelanins are reddish pigments. For example, the hair of red-headed humans is red because phaeomelanins are substituted for melanins.

Tyrosinase-negative albinism is the classic type of albino with no forms of melanin present at all in pigment holding dermal and epidermal cells. The usual cause for this type of albinism is the absence of tyrosinase and the consequent inability to synthesize any melanin at all.

Tyrosinase-positive albino animals show the pattern that would have been created by melanins, but that pattern is instead created with phaeomelanins and is expressed in shades of red, reddish browns, and ochre.

I'm certain that this is an albino D. atrofasciata, and the type of albinism is tyrosinase-positive albinism.

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.