FAQ: What about *pallid* Agapornis fischeri?

FAQ: What about *pallid* Agapornis fischeri?

Read update of 17/01/2022

The first reports we received about the possible existence of a *pallid* Agapornis fischeri originate from 2016. Now a days, there are several reports of enthusiasts who believe they have pallid Agapornis fischeri in their collection and of course that leads to many discussions.

Pallid is a SL recessive mutation, that gives a visual reduction of +/- 50% of the eumelanin, the young birds have red eyes during the first few days and important: this mutation is allelic with SL ino. In genus Agapornis we have a pallid mutation in Agapornis roseicollis.

The problem is that the birds that we saw are always combined with many other mutations. Till now, I have not yet seen a pure bred *pallid green* Agapornis fischeri. We absolutely need these pure bred pallid greens to be able to test the phenotype against the descriptions of pallid. It is therefore difficult for us to draw preliminary conclusions. So, I can only encourage the owners of these birds to try to breed this *pallid* in a pure green form. That will help us a lot.

We should also keep in mind that there is a proven pale mutant in Agapornis fischeri and that it also inherits SL, is allelic to SL ino and is born with red eyes. These pale birds have a more limited eumelanin reduction than the pallid (+/- 20% visual reduction). So the chance that people confuse it with pallid is also possible, especially when pale is combined with other eumelanin reducing mutations such as opaline, pastel, dominant edged etc….

As always, time will tell and remember: even then, only DNA research can tell us what mutation it really is.

26 comments

  1. Dear Dirk,
    Thank you very much for these clarifications. Really, great confusion can be made between the pale mutant (especially when it is non-pure and combined with other eumelanin mutants) and the *pallid* in Agapornis fischeri. I agree that more time and more study are needed to draw the right conclusions.

    Thank you for bringing up this subject.
    Best regards.

  2. I have few birds and will breed with pure greens this year and will report the chicks as they born. I have pale birds too and can see the reduction is way less than a * Pallid * bird. Pallid Fischeri has very similar pattern to pallid Roseicollis and have +-50% reduction

  3. Pale isn,t born with red eyes, *pallid* yes and become darken after a few day.. but the eyes will never reach/ have normal eye colour (the eyes became Red Retina)

    1. Homozygote pale birds are born with dark red eyes. This is typical for most SL mutations (and some autosomal recessive mutations).
      The only mutation I know for now where the retina stays dark red at, least the first months, is the autosomal recessive faded mutation that we know in budgerigars.

      1. Sir Dirk,
        It is possible to show us the real phenotype of the fadded mutation in lovebirds. I searched for this mutation but unfortunately no photos are available in net or in your book that i have one.

        Thanks a lot.
        Soufiene.

  4. Dear sir,
    With this article I have got confirmation that still things are not confirmed as people are claiming so better is to be claim breed with green wild type to confirm it,

  5. Hello Dirk,
    A wonderful article with quite perfect timings. I believe BVA and it’s associated entities (across different countries and especially in Asiain Sub-Continent) are doing some awareness around this.

    This education and true knowledge is very important to keep up the genetics, mutations and new breeders enthusiastic.

    Appreciate if you can do some follow-up articles on this same topic.

    How about having a Webinar Dirk?

  6. Hi dirk,
    Thanks for this information sir, I have 1 question in my mind everybody knows there is no SL ino exist in fisheri but allele of SL ino exist for example pale mutation, so is there any chance of SL ino fisheri alive?

    1. An SL ino can always arise in Agapornis fischeri, but just to be clear: pale is an allele of the same gene that SL ino is on, but you don’t need an SL ino mutant to have a pale mutant.

  7. Hi dirk,
    I have one question in my mind that SL pale is allele to pallid ??

  8. Dear sir can u described about allele what is this?give me any link to understand me easily

  9. Dear sir.
    I am BVA6587.
    I have a question.
    There is only one type of fallow in the BVA gene table.
    However, there are three types of roseicollis Farrows: Bronze, Pale, and Dan.
    What kind of pairing is used when breeding Farrow?
    For example, bronze + pale, bronze + dan, can a fellow baby be born with such a combination?
    Best regards.

    1. Dear Sir,

      I am sorry, but if you check the pdf’s on the download page you will see that all three fallow mutations are in the Ornitho-Genetics list.

      BTW: This is not the BVA list. Ornitho-Genetics is an independent research center, but we are cooperating with BVA.

      Bronze fallow, pale fallow and dun fallow are separated mutations. We always advice not to combine them, because they are all very weak.

  10. Dear sir.. I do breed about this *pallid*mutation as well in eyering about a Year ago… N the result was shock me that this mutation allelic to pale mutation n similarly in agapornis roseicollis.so maybe you need breeding record me n My friend ready to submit this *pallid*mutation record breeding whic is sexlink inheritancely same like pale mutation.n it was allelic to pale mutation

    1. Thank you very much for this info. There is no doubt about the fact that this phenotype is indeed sex-linked and we already have indications that it is allelic with pale or it is a phenotype created in combination with pale and we want to get more certainty about the latter. The good news is that breeders can test it for themselves with a few simple combinations.

  11. Dear Sir
    I have a question.
    Pallid Ino heard that Pallid and Ino have an allelic relationship and that no female is born.
    Is it a true?
    Best regard.

    1. As I mentioned in the webinar about pallid: pallid and SL ino are alleles of the same gene. That gene is located on the (Z chromosome) sex-chromosome.
      Since a male has two Z chromosomes and a hen has only one Z chromosome, only a male can have the combination of Sl ino and pallid (a PallidIno). So the same with pale and pallid, only the male can be PaleIno or PalePallid.

  12. Dear Sir,
    Please tell me about the feather color of Roseicollis.
    The only colors that can be seen by the pigments are ohm colors such as yellow, orange, and red, and all another are structural colors?
    For example, is purple the color we see in the combination of the structural blue and the ohm red?
    Or does it have a purple pigment and look purple?
    Best regard.

    1. The colour of a bird is always a combination of light and pigments. In Agapornis spp we only have eumelanin (in normal circumstances black) and psittacofulvins (red, yellow, orange…). In combinations with the structure of the feather, different colours can be created. it is impossible to explain it in a few lines because each mutation / species has its own characteristics.

  13. Dear Sir
    Can the pallid gene and the cinnamon gene be expressed same time in roseicollis?
    Both are black mutations,I don’t think it’s possible to express them at the same time.
    So, I don’t think there is a roseicollis called pallid cinnamon.
    Best regard.

    1. Since it are two different genes, located on the Z chromosome, a crossing-over is possible. So it can be expressed the same time. Please consult the chapter on crossing-overs in my book; there is also a picture of a cinnamon-pallid Agapornis roseicollis

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