Lacewing

The latest member of the sex linked group is the Redeyed Lacewing, a bird that has cinnamon-brown markings on head, neck, mantle and wings, and a clear body color which can be either yellow or white. Well defined cinnamon colored spots are also present. The feet are pink and cock Lacewings have flesh colored cere's similar to Inos.

The Lacewing gene resembles the ino gene in making yellow birds which without it would be green, and by making white those which without it would be blue. The distinctive feature is the cinnamon lacing in conjunction with the Lutino or Albino like body.

According to Mr. C. H. Rogers, the shade of the cinnamon with markings on Lacewings varies according to the variety which is masked. There can be an association of Lacewing with any other variety, though there are only yellow and white phenotypes. The deepest markings are said to occur when the variety is Normal, Cinnamon, Opaline, Violet or Grey. Lighter forms mask either Greywing or Fallow; and the lightest markings, which may be insignificant, and so make the bird virtually an ino in appearance, come when Lacewing masks yellow, white or clearwing.

Lacewings first appeared in a Lutino strain, so it is not surprising that some breeders supposed they were cinnamon Lutino's and that the cinnamon had been combined with ino in the same way as Opaline has been combined with cinnamon. It is certainly possible to combine ino and cinnamon but owing to the masking effect of ino over the cinnamon gene, ino appears to be little influenced by its association with cinnamon.

Incidentally, it may be noted that the masking effect of ino makes the process of producing cinnamon Inos from cinnamon and Inos longer than that described for producing cinnamon Opaline's from cinnamon and Opaline's. The principles are the same as both depend upon "crossing over", but it is expected that in the case of cinnamon Inos test matings will have to be made to detect the presence of cinnamon.

Mask, yellow, ornamented by six evenly spaced large round cinnamon throat spots, the outer two being partially covered at the base of the cheek patches. Cheek patches, pale violet. General body color, back, rump, breast, flanks, and underparts, yellow. Markings on cheeks, back of head, neck, mantle, and wings, cinnamon brown on a yellow ground. Eyes, clear red with light iris rings. Tail, long feathers, cinnamon brown. Note: The depth of yellow of the body color, etc, varies according to the normal counterpart being masked by the Lacewing character, i.e. the richest yellow is carried by the Lacewing Olive Green, and the lightest by the Lacewing Light Green. However, no other color or suffusion is seen in the body color as sometimes occurs in Lutino's or Fallow's as a fault.

Mask, white, ornamented by six evenly spaced large round cinnamon throat spots, the outer two being partially covered at the base of the cheek patches. Cheek patches, pale violet General body color, back, rump, breast, flanks, and underparts, white. Markings, on cheeks, back of head, neck, mantle, and wings, cinnamon brown on a white ground. Eyes, clear red with light iris rings. Tail, long feathers, cinnamon brown. Note: The shade of white of the body color, etc., varies only slightly in tone according to the normal counterpart being masked by the Lacewing character. ( A yellow-faced form is recognized.) However, no other color or suffusion is seen in the body color as sometimes occurs in Albinos or Fallow's as a fault.

The Redeye Lacewing (REL) was first noted in England in 1948 and was also seen in South Africa at about the some time. The mutation occurred in "'Ino" strains and initially birds in Lutino and Albino classes were often penalized by judges because of the brown wing markings and spots. The South African Lacewings were not seen in England until about 15 years ago when they were imported by Brian Byles and Alf Ormerod. They had much clearer markings and the breeding of Lacewings "took off" with the advent of this mutation with many more breeders specializing in the variety.

For a long time fanciers were saying that they were just cinnamon Ino's and indeed by aspiring "Ino" to cinnamon, Dr. Trevor Daniel reported in 1981 that he had succeeded in producing a "cinnamon-ino" hen which was identical to a Lacewing. This could be due to a "crossover" of the genes. The crossover could have occurred in a similar manner to the crossover which produced the cinnamon opaline variety.

In earlier days, reports in the "Budgerigar Bulletin" talked of crossing lutino's with cinnamon yellows to try to improve color and this is a possible explanation for the appearance of Lacewings.

There seems no reason why the South African mutation should have deeper markings. Probably better selection of stock used for breeding is the answer as in England, the cinnamon inos were discarded by ino breeders and no attempt appears to have been made to breed them for their markings.

In the Untied States this variety was first bred in 1977 as an exhibition bird by ABS Panel Judge Lou Smaldino. It appeared out of a mating of Sky Blue/Opal/ino cock to a Grey Green Cinnamon normal hen. Their 3 chicks were: 1) Lutino hen 2) Light green cinnamon opaline hen 3) Redeye Lacewing- yellow hen (also an opaline). The Redeye Lacewing chick was not shown until 1979 and only with a great deal of difficulty in getting it into the proper classification at the shows (as no one in the United States had ever shown a Redeye-Lacewing). Most classifiers wanted to put them with the Fallows and could only be convinced otherwise by the apparent lack of green suffusion and the light iris rings in the eyes; this together with insistence and the '·ABS Standard of Perfection' in hand changed the status of the Redeye Lacewing stateside

Lou Smaldino also produced the Redeye Lacewing-White variety in 1979. The Redeye Lacewing has been a most difficult variety to establish as the birds were so inbred (father-daughter, son-mother) that many fatalities occurred in the eggs or young. However, at this writing 1987) due to out-crosses and intensive breeding, a stud of approximately 25 birds has been established

Up to now we have been assuming that the characteristic colouring and markings of Lacewings are due to the operation of a lacewing gene, just as the characteristic features of opalines and cinnamon are due to the opaline and cinnamon genes respectively. The genetic constitution of a Lacewing is not as simple as this, however, as the results of the following matings will show.

The results of matings 1-4 above are consistent with the view that Lacewings posess the cinnamon gene together with Ino or a recessive allele of Ino. (It seems unlikely that Lacewings carry the Ino gene together with a recessive allele of cinnamon, since the former gene would prevent the expression of the latter.)

Insufficient breeding data are available at the present time to enable a definite decision to be reached on the genetic constitution of Lacewings. Under these circumstances, therefore, we might perhaps be permitted to indulge in a little speculation on this question in order to stimulate further investigation of the problem.

We should like to suggest that lacewings possess a gene that is equally as effective as the Ino gene at inhibiting melanin pigment formation in the body feathers but which only partially inhibits the wings, head and spots. We have seen that it is possible for melanin formation to be independently disturbed in wings and body in clearwings, So there is a precedent for this type of genetic effect in budgerigars. This postulated lacewing gene would have to be recessive allele of Ino to explain the fact that the mating Ino cock x lacewing hen gives 100% Ino offspring.

On this hypothesis, then, lacewings are a composite variety possessing both the cinnamon and lacewing genes. To test this hypothesis, it would be necessary to demonstrate the existence of a "lacewing minus cinnamon", i.e., to separate the lacewing and cinnamon genes. Such a bird would be expected to have red eyes, a clear white or yellow body and dark grey or even black undulated markings. It would in fact be similar to the dominant Texas Clearbodies which have appeared from time to time, only with red eyes. The breeding of this hypothetical "lacewing minus cinnamon" would depend on a crosover between the two sexlinked genes and theoretically the best way of attempting it would be to mate normal/lacewing cocks to lacewing hens, when a small proportion of cinnamon and "lacewing minus cinnamon" cocks and hens might appear. The percentage of crossovers to be expected might be very small and it would depend upon the closeness of the linkage between cinnamon and lacewing. This experiment is one which would be very worth while and if it succeeded. The "lacewing minus cinnamon" which resulted should be a very striking bird.

I have improved size by 50% by using top quality out-Crosses, and color of markings from faint to bold, dark, clear. Body color from pale to golden (by use of dark factor birds),viz, dark greens and cobalt's These are striking birds of very good size and color, but not top bench as yet.

As with any other rare variety breed for exhibition, Redeye Lacewings take patience, fortitude, persistence, devotion and good luck. Personally, it has been a quite difficult task to just establish this variety in the United States, but none more rewarding. It is a stunning bird in your aviary or on the bench. Just stick with it until you get what you want. Listen to others, but also to yourself and your instincts, trust in your own breeding skills. I would not have these beautiful Lacewings today had I listened to all the "experts" who told me they were all Fallows!!!

Genetics for Budgerigar Books, T.G. Taylor & C. Warner, 1%1. LIffe Books Ltd. pgs. 4446.
American Budgerigar Society, Stand of Perfection - 1986, pg.56.
Budgerigar Matings and Color Expectations, R.K. Bissell, The Budgerigar Society - 1984, pg. 170