There was a thread a short time ago that brought up marbling in cherryhead redfoots. One person (Allegra, I think) mentioned that there seems to be a couple of differing forms of marbling in these animals, which is something I tend to agree with.
In most cases marbling consists of random white patches appearing in the newly grown areas of the carapace as in this yearling...
On the plastron the marbling starts along the midline....
At times the white patches can be pretty extensive and cover a good portion of the shell as in these two year old cherryheads...
But then there seems to be another form of marbling that results in a brownish shell with radiating lines that sometimes form a star burst pattern. In my experience this type of marbling begins when the tortoise is quite young. Here are two hatchlings that are only a couple of months old that are clearly on their way to being really marbled...
Up close you can see the lack of dark pigment...
These two hatchlings are rather dull colored and for some reason I have noticed that many of the most extreme marbled cherryheads also tend to have little in the way of bright colors and are often shades of orange. Of course, I have also seen some screaming red animals that were exceptionally marbled too, but the marbled trait does seem to be associated somehow with other pigments besides black.
In most cases marbling consists of random white patches appearing in the newly grown areas of the carapace as in this yearling...
On the plastron the marbling starts along the midline....
At times the white patches can be pretty extensive and cover a good portion of the shell as in these two year old cherryheads...
But then there seems to be another form of marbling that results in a brownish shell with radiating lines that sometimes form a star burst pattern. In my experience this type of marbling begins when the tortoise is quite young. Here are two hatchlings that are only a couple of months old that are clearly on their way to being really marbled...
Up close you can see the lack of dark pigment...
These two hatchlings are rather dull colored and for some reason I have noticed that many of the most extreme marbled cherryheads also tend to have little in the way of bright colors and are often shades of orange. Of course, I have also seen some screaming red animals that were exceptionally marbled too, but the marbled trait does seem to be associated somehow with other pigments besides black.