I don't believe that they're different in the sense of being two discreet alleles (like mojave is clearly discreet and distinct from the "b'lessers"). However, I do think that the original lines of each morph had a distinct "look" to them that could (with selective breeding!) be retained in modern bloodlines -- if only to give meaning to the distinction between the two!
To my eye, a butter looks to have a more uniform brown/gold tone to its coloration (they look "smooth," like, well, butter) while the lessers should have a bright, popping pattern with a "cool" colored background for a higher-contrast look.
Is that a subtle distinction? Yeah, probably. Do I think you could tell them apart without knowing for sure? Nope, not at all -- especially not if you have someone with "lessers" who has been breeding them for a more "butter" look or vise versa, or if you have babies from a butter x lesser breeding -- at that point I think you'd best just call them all "b'lessers."
I liken it to different lines of pastel ... To me, a lemon pastel should be super bright yellow, high-contrast, with a very busy pattern of stark black overlaying the yellow, while a Graziani should be a very clean yellow or straw blond with a reduced/banded pattern with lots of blushing. But they don't stay that way without selective breeding, so as everyone knows, nowadays you can't buy a pastel based on the bloodline you like; you have to go with the individual animal.
So there. (Dang I type a lot.)Here's my butter and my lesser. Can you tell which is which?
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