Inheritance of Tail Colour and White-spotting in Conilurus penicillatus (Muridae)

Abstract

In the wild, Coni/urus penicillatus has two tail colour morphs, one entirely black and the other with a white distal brush of variable length. These colour morphs have been used in the past for taxonomic purposes. A small proportion (4'6%) of laboratory-reared animals have a white interstitial section. Pedigree data were collected from a laboratory colony (n = 173) established using seven wild-caught animals from the north Kimberley region, Western Australia. The hypothesis tested was that black tail is inherited as a Mendelian character recessive to white tip. Matings between black-tailed individuals always gave black offspring. Crosses between other colour morphs also supported this hypothesis.