Hello everyone!

I posted here a while ago as I was working on a paper in herpetology, specifically requiring me to categorize and come up with unambiguous, precise descriptions of single-gene mutations in Python regius, and I got a lot of helpful information. While research carried me to other areas in the time since then, I have resumed working on this paper as there is a bountiful field of research that this publication would open up, into the precise genetic mechanisms determining color and pattern in snakes. The key issue right now is ensuring our dataset is as accurate as possible, ensuring we have no duplicates of the same morph, only including morphs that are legitimately distinct from the wildtype and possess a demonstrable inheritance pattern, as any statistical tests done on the data will not hold up if the data is inaccurate.

So, I have come here in the hopes that there might be some experienced people who could help me answer some specific, targeted questions regarding several ball python morphs. I have included an image showing our description of the wildtype phenotype, as it shows the terminology we are using across all descriptions for the sake of consistency (the idea is that a description we write should be good enough for someone who has never seen the morph to be able to identify it - much like how a species description should be sufficient for a field biologist to identify a specimen). Any help is very greatly appreciated!

Wildtype description:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxbvxogh0w...dtype.jpg?dl=0

Anyways, here are the morphs we are currently wrestling with, and the specific things we are needing to know:
Lori: Based on the above description of the wildtype, how would you describe/characterize the heterozygote and homozygote forms of this mutation? I had trouble even identifying the heterozygote, and the homozygote seems to have such an aberrant pattern that I am not exactly sure where to start.

Axanthic: I know that there are multiple different genes related to this phenotype - TSK, Markus Jayne, VPI, and Jolliff. However, one thing I am not clear on is whether or not Black Axanthic is the same as any of the aforementioned genes, or if it is instead its own strain of axanthic. Is Black Axanthic just another name for VPI axanthic? Also, any notes on ventral coloration in axanthics would be very helpful. Also, has anyone ever managed to produce offspring from a double het. pairing? I'd be curious to see if any double homozygotes for two axanthic genes have been produced.

Bengal: My professor is unable to really tell exactly how this morph is distinct from the wildtype based on photos of homozygotes that I have shown to him. Is it a legitimate morph, or just a line-bred thing that is far more subtle? If the latter, I will exclude it from the dataset. If it really is a legitimate mutation, any demonstrations of exactly how it differs from the wildtype would be very helpful.

Ghost/"Hypo": Now, I know there are many different "lines" of ghost/hypo such as "orange ghost", "green ghost", etc., and I have excluded most from my analysis as there was nothing that said they were non-synonymous. However, I still have 3 similar mutants in my dataset - Desert Ghost, Ghost/Hypomelanistic, and G1 Hypo. Are these three all different names/lines of the same trait (ie Butter vs Lesser, Banana vs Coral Glow), or are they legitimately different from each other? If so, any data on how they differ (or if it is instead like the case with Axanthics where the phenotypes are identical but produce wildtypes when crossed) would be VERY helpful!

Lavender Albino: This one I've had in there for a while, but I'm honestly unsure about it. I've never seen a lot of "lavender albino" ball pythons sold, and I don't know if it is actually a legitimate morph by itself, or if it is instead more like what we see in Clark-strain reticulated pythons (ie being a cross of two different albino alleles). Any clarification would be very helpful!

Thanks in advance for any answers!