As far as I know, anything with melanin can be considered melanistic. It's whether or not some should be called Hyper-melanistic that should be the question.

There are several adult chondros with much more black pigment than the animal I posted. I think the term melanistic gets thrown around, and for the sake of chondros, it is used for those that exibit a large amount of black.....something chondros do not normally express. For an animal that is normally solid green, I do think the term melanistic or hyper-melanistic is appropriate for those with large amounts of black.

The term "mite-phase" was once used for chondro will black speckling, but these days, the more black animals are referred to melanistic phase and the condition seems to be inheritable in some lines.

If I can get permission to post pics of some melanistic chondros, I'll put them up for example. There are plenty around.