Linkage of close neighbors on the same chromosome is certainly a possibility. It could explain why so much variation in this complex. I guess we will have to wait and see a crossover to confirm linkage.

Based on the similarities in the complex and the striking combos I'm thinking alleles but I thought that for pewter and was wrong and pastel and cinnamon don't appear to even be on the same chromosome (at least not close anyway).

Anyone read the sciencenews.org article a while back about the short legged dog breeds? Suppose any of the ball python mutations could be extra copies of genes? Maybe one extra copy makes a phantom, two a mojave, and three a lesser, lol.