Black Adder

My friend Nicole sent me these pictures she took at Minsmere in Suffolk last week.

This is a melanistic form of the Adder, which is scarce. Although not clear in these pictures, it still has the standard markings of an adder, but the pale areas have been darkened by an excess of melanin in the skin. It is a genetic variant caused by inheriting two copies of the gene, one from each parent. If only one is inherited then the offspring has the standard markings. In the top two pictures, it can be seen with a standard patterned adult.

adders are hard to see at the best of times as they are usually aware of you before you are aware of them and move out of your way, so to get to see this scarce genetic variant is a real bonus.