Sex-Linked Mutations in the Peachfaced Lovebird

By Doug Bedwell

There are three different sex-linked mutations(at the time this article was written, the Opaline mutation did not yet exist) in the Peachfaced Lovebird: Lutino, American Cinnamon, and Australian Cinnamon. Though the Lutino mutation is quite common, and is probably familiar to most lovebird enthusiasts, the cinnamons are less common, and consequently less well known.
The Lutino mutation acts by removing all of the Melanin, which is a dark pigment, from the bird. The yellow and red colors we see are caused by different kinds of pigments, called carotenoids, which are unaffected by the Lutino gene. In effect, the bright yellow and red colors are actually the pigments "left behind" after the Lutino gene has removed all the Melanin from the bird. 




The Australian Cinnamon is a very pale yellow-green, slightly darker than a lutino, though lighter than an American Cinnamon. Expensive and hard to find just a few years ago, Australian Cinnamons are becoming more and more commonplace. Cinnamon babies of either type are easy to identify in the nest, because their eyes are paler than the dark eyes of normal chicks, though not the totally red eyes of the lutino. The eyes darken as the chicks mature, and though they probably still are "redder" than the normal eye, they appear black, just as in a normal peachie. Young Cinnamons do have a dark marking on the beak, though the patch is much lighter in shade than the deep black mark on the beak of a Normal Green Peachfaced baby. A Lutino baby has no dark mark on its beak The Australian cinnamon to the left has built an elaborate nest for her brood.
The bird to the right is an American Cinnamon (this is a blue Am. cinnamon; it is also whitefaced).
Some very interesting effects are created when two of the sex-linked mutations are mixed. Because each of these mutations occurs on the sex-determining chromosome pair, a female can only carry one of these mutaitons at a time, however, occasionally a rare genetic "crossover" will occur when a father bird carries one gene each of American Cinnamon and Lutino. The result of this crossover is that both the American Cinnamon Gene and the Lutino gene end up on the same chromosome. The new, combined mutation is referred to as a "Lacewing." They are quite unusual (photo not available).

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When a male bird carries one Lutino gene and one Australian Cinnamon gene, he will visually resemble an Australian Cinnamon bird, though he will be slightly paler in color. This bird is sometimes referred to as a "Splitcinnamonino." For example, the Australian cinnamon hen (top) and the orange-faced lutino male to the right would produce "splitcinnamonino" males. Because both of the mutations are sex-linked in this pairing to the right, we will know the sex of each baby by its color (splitcinnamoninos will be males, lutinos will be females). We have been discussing these colors in terms of "green series" birds. The appearance of these sex-linked mutations is different in "blue series" birds. The bird below is a creamino, which is the ino mutation in a blue peachfaced lovebird.