A Sort-of Genetic Question

[Zayshah]

So while I was searching up images of albino snakes, I was suddenly struck by the notion that I had never seen nor heard of an albino tarantula. In fact, I've never heard of any sort of invertebrate being albino. Why do you think this is?
If birds, mammals, and reptiles can be albino (as rare as it may be for some species), wouldn't that mean that tarantulas could be too?
My first thoughts on this would be that maybe it's because the mammals etc. have an actual skin, while inverts have an exoskeleton... but would that matter at all?

Any thoughts?

 

[Aurelia]

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=134519&highlight=albino
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=134522

 

[Zayshah]

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=134519&highlight=albino
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=134522

The little sling in the first link is cute I had figured there must be albino T's out there, I just want to know why they're not ever seen or advertised... there's not even any pictures of adult albinos (that I can find). I mean, if the ultra-rare albino croc and such are so well known, why wouldn't albino T's be easier to find, even if it was only pictures? I understand that crocs are well-loved around the US, but spiders are well-loved around this website.
Plus, how does invert melanin work? I'm not much into the full biology of spiders (though I do wish I knew more about it).

Also, I did some more searching on Google and found this post on AB by Botar

I asked about this once before and I believe Code Monkey responded. (Just want to give you credit, CM) Abinism is the absence of pigment. Since T colors are not a result of pigmentation, there are no albino T's. For clarification, I'd have to refer you to CM. In regards to albino insects, I've seen a picture of an albino roach, but it was not an albino. It was a freshly molted B. giganteus and once they harden, they assume their normal colors. Anyone else have any info on the matter of albino insects?

Botar

And this from CodeMonkey

Well, I'd have to refer you back to Dr. Breene of the ATS But, yeah, the majority of coloration is due to the way light refracts/reflects with the exoskeleton structure as opposed to pigment (although there is some structures in true spiders that are colored due to pigment as I learned reading Foelix's Biology of Spiders - don't know what, if anything, in Ts is due to pigment).

Does anyone know anything more on this subject, or have any more ideas/pictures?

 

[Aurelia]

I found a possible explanation-

The pigment for white does occur in Tarantulas so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that there could be a white tarantula (not an albino obviously but just a white coloured T)

http://bugnation.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=23742

Spiders get their colour from pigment granules contained in the epithelial cells. Common colours like black, brown, red, orange, and yellow are supplied by a family of pigments called ommochromes. White is the result of light being reflected by guanine crystals and green, Areniella curcubitina is derived from bile pigments such as biliverdin.

http://www.earthlife.net/chelicerata/s-anatomy.html

 

[Zayshah]

Ts don't have melanin. Beyond that, I'm really not sure.

I rock so hard at biology.
Now I'm doing some more digging, and those threads were right-albinism has nothing to do with being completely white, it's just the lack of a certain pigment. I am learning more right now than I think I did in a full year of biology class.

al⋅bi⋅no   /ælˈbaɪnoʊ or, especially Brit., -ˈbi-/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [al-bahy-noh or, especially Brit., -bee-] Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun, plural -nos. 1. a person with pale skin, light hair, pinkish eyes, and visual abnormalities resulting from a hereditary inability to produce the pigment melanin.
2. an animal or plant with a marked deficiency in pigmentation.

Plus, on the thread with the strange looking Aphonopelma, it said that the eyes of the weird ones had no pigment... maybe albino T's are just as common as other organisms, and it's just not always caught?

 

[Kirk]

So while I was searching up images of albino snakes, I was suddenly struck by the notion that I had never seen nor heard of an albino tarantula. In fact, I've never heard of any sort of invertebrate being albino. Why do you think this is?
If birds, mammals, and reptiles can be albino (as rare as it may be for some species), wouldn't that mean that tarantulas could be too?
My first thoughts on this would be that maybe it's because the mammals etc. have an actual skin, while inverts have an exoskeleton... but would that matter at all?

Any thoughts?

Albinism does occur among invertebrates. Especially notable in cave species, but also occasionally seen in other groups as well.

 

[Zayshah]

Albinism does occur among invertebrates. Especially notable in cave species, but also occasionally seen in other groups as well.

Do you have any links to articles on this I could read? I'm now very interested in this

 

[Kirk]

Do you have any links to articles on this I could read? I'm now very interested in this

I don't have any links. You might try a google search for cave-dwelling invertebrates. I've only collected in one marine cave in the Bahamas, which has blind isopods and shrimp.

 

[Zayshah]

I don't have any links. You might try a google search for cave-dwelling invertebrates. I've only collected in one marine cave in the Bahamas, which has blind isopods and shrimp.

Hmmm... I will do that. Tomorrow, after I've slept I'm really curious on pigmentation in invertebrates in general, now, as well as the genetics behind albinism and similar 'defects.' Maybe I'll visit the tiny library shack near my house tomorrow. I doubt they'll have anything on any of these topics, but it's worth a shot!

 

[JDeRosa]

Once saw a pic of something called the Venezuelan White. A white tarantula.