Melanism
Melanism is the congenital excess of melanin in an organism resulting in dark pigment.
Pseudomelanism, also called abundism, is another variant of pigmentation, identifiable by dark spots or enlarged stripes, which cover a large part of the body of the animal, making it appear melanistic.[2]
The morbid deposition of black matter, often of a malignant character causing pigmented
Adaptation
Melanism related to the process of
Adaptive melanism has been shown to occur in a variety of animals, including mammals such as
Industrial melanism
Industrial melanism is an
In cats
Melanistic coat coloration occurs as a common
In 2003, the
Melanism in leopards is inherited as a
In birds
The chicken breeds Silkie and Ayam Cemani commonly exhibit this trait. Ayam Cemani is an uncommon and relatively modern breed of chicken from Indonesia. They have a dominant gene that causes hyperpigmentation (Fibromelanosis), making the chicken entirely black; including feathers, beak, and internal organs.
In April 2015, an extremely rare black flamingo was spotted on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.[23]
In amphibians
The alpine salamander, Salamandra atra, has one subspecies (S. atra atra) that is completely black.[24] The pigment comes from a specific cell called a melanophore, which produce the compound melanin.[25][26]
There are four other subspecies of this salamander,[27] and they have varying levels of melanin pigmentation.[26][28][29] The subspecies have yellow spots in different concentrations or proportions. The pigment-producing cells that contribute to the yellow spots of some sub-species are called xanthophores.[28] It appears that the fully-black phenotypes do not ever develop these xanthophores.[29] Alpine salamanders produce a toxin from their skin, and both fully melanistic, black salamanders and spotted individuals produce the compound.[30]
Studies done that traced DNA histories have suggested that the original alpine salamander phenotype was black with some yellow spots, meaning that the fully black color evolved over time and was thus selected for over many generations.[29]
In humans
Melanism, meaning a mutation that results in completely dark skin, does not exist in humans. In humans, the amount of melanin is determined by three dominant alleles (AABBCC), and white people do not have as many as black people.
Peutz–Jeghers syndrome
This rare
Socio-politics
The term melanism has been used on Usenet, internet forums and blogs to mean an African-American social movement holding that dark-skinned humans are the original people from which those of other skin color originate. The term melanism has been used in this context as early as the mid-1990s[33] and was promoted by some Afrocentrists, such as Frances Cress Welsing.
See also
- Albinism
- Albino and white squirrels
- Amelanism, lack of melanism
- Black squirrel
- Erythrism, reddish pigmentation
- Isabellinism, lowered melanism
- Heterochromia iridum
- Leucism, a partial loss of pigmentation that results in animals with pale or white skin, hair and/or feathers
- Piebaldism, patchy absence of melanin-producing cells
- Vitiligo, a skin condition which causes areas of the skin to lose its colour
- Xanthochromism, an unusual yellow colouration in animals
- Peutz–Jeghers syndrome, dark patches on the lips etc.
- Ocular melanosis
- Melanosis, hyperpigmentation via increased melanin
References
- ISBN 0-8165-1558-1.
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- ^ Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913). Melanosis Archived 2013-07-29 at the Wayback Machine. C. & G. Merriam Co. Springfield, Massachusetts. Page 910
- ^ King, R.C., Stansfield, W.D., Mulligan, P.K. (2006). A Dictionary of Genetics, 7th ed., Oxford University Press
- ISBN 9781405151986.
- ^ Majerus, M. E. (2009). Industrial melanism in the peppered moth, Biston betularia: an excellent teaching example of Darwinian evolution in action. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 2(1), 63–74.
- ^ McIntyre, N. E. (2000). Ecology of urban arthropods: a review and a call to action. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 93(4), 825–835.
- ^ Cook, L. M., Saccheri, I. J., 2013. The peppered moth and industrial melanism: evolution of a natural selection case study. Journal of Heredity 110:207–12
- ^ Grant, B. S., Wiseman L. L., 2002. Recent history of melanism in American peppered moths. Journal of Heredity 93:86-90.
- ^ Brakefield, P. M., Liebert, T. G., 2000. Evolutionary dynamics of declining melanism in the peppered moth in the Netherlands. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Biology 267:1953–1957.
- ^ Grant, B. S., Cook, A. D., Clarke, C. A., & Owen, D. F. (1998). Geographic and temporal variation in the incidence of melanism in peppered moth populations in America and Britain. Journal of Heredity, 89(5), 465–471.
- ^ Mikkola, K., & Rantala, M. J. (2010). Immune defence, a possible nonvisual selective factor behind the industrial melanism of moths (Lepidoptera). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 99(4), 831–838.
- ^ Mikkola, K., Albrecht, A., 1988. The melanism of Adalia-bipunctata around the Gulf of Finland as an industrial phenomenon (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae). Annales Zoologici Fennici 25:177–85.
- ^ Muggleton, J., Lonsdale, D., Benham, B. R., 1975. Melanism in Adalia-bipunctata L (ColCoccinellidae) and its relationship to atmospheric pollution. Journal of Applied Ecology 2:451–464.
- ^ De Jong, P. W., Verhoog, M. D., Brakefield, P. M., 1992. Sperm competition and melanic polymorphism in the 2-spot ladybird, Adalla bipunctata (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae). Journal of Heredity 70:172–178.
- ^ Searle, A. G. (1968) Comparative Genetics of Coat Colour in Mammals. Logos Press, London
- ^ Ulmer, F. A. (1941) Melanism in the Felidae, with special reference to the Genus Lynx. Journal of Mammalogy 22 (3): 285–288.
- S2CID 19021807.
- S2CID 5446868.
- .
- ^ Majerus, M. E. N. (1998). Melanism: evolution in action. Oxford University Press, New York
- ^ Seidensticker, J., Lumpkin, S. (2006). Smithsonian Q & A: the ultimate question and answer book. Cats. Collins, New York
- ^ Krol, Charlotte (2015-04-09). "Rare black flamingo spotted in Cyprus". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2015-04-25. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
- ^ "Salamandre noire". www.karch.ch. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
- PMID 1816547.
- ^ PMID 2385569.
- S2CID 22175429.
- ^ S2CID 212664862.
- ^ S2CID 83504324.
- S2CID 235611059.
- ^ Scheneider, Patricia (2004). "the genetics and evolution of human color". ProQuest.
- PMID 30283795.
- ^ "Sundiata, AFROCENTRISM: THE ARGUMENT WE'RE REALLY HAVING". Retrieved 2007-06-23.
Bibliography
- David Attenborough (2002). The Life of Mammals (TV-Series and book). United Kingdom: BBC.
- ISBN 0-19-857370-7.
- ISBN 0-19-854982-2.
- Melanism and disease resistance in insects
- Fryer, G. 2013. How should the history of industrial melanism in moths be interpreted? The Linnean. 29 (2): 15 - 22.