Types of harlequins

[Honeybuns62]

Hi!

i am trying to learn more about harlequins as I’d like to try for those colors eventually. I read about different colors (such as blue, blue fawn, lilac and chocolate harlequins). I read about these but there were no photos. Any idea what these could look like or are these just fancy names for slight variations?

background info - I have a cream holland lop buck now so I’d be looking to add a holland lop doe to my bunch. I wouldn’t be opposed to magpies either but not sure that a cream and harlequin of any of the above shades/types would throw that.

 

[Jackrabbit]

I raise Rex, and Have a Blue/fawn Harlequin doe and a black magpie/harlequin buck this is them:

 

[Honeybuns62]

I raise Rex, and Have a Blue/fawn Harlequin doe and a black magpie/harlequin buck this is them:View attachment 28930View attachment 28929

Thank you! This is helpful. I love the magpie! Would a cream x black (or lilac) magpie make anything close to him you think?

 

[SableSteel]

Harlequins are always called by the black-base color, not the orange-base color. So cream harlequin or fawn harlequin isn't a thing. The pheomelanin/orange pigment can range from light cream to red, but they are the same genetically (aside from rufus modifiers) and have the same color name.

The four shades of japanese harlequin are Black Japanese, Blue Japanese, Chocolate Japanese, and Lilac Japanese. (the tricolor versions of them are always Black/Orange Tricolor, Blue/Fawn tricolor, Chocolate/Orange Tricolor, and Lilac/Fawn Tricolor). These can be just shortened to Harlequin. If somebody says Black Harlequin, they mean Black Japanese Harlequin.

Magpies do come in a few more colors than Japanese (as they can have other genes than the chinchilla gene and still get that magpie effect, while Japanese harlequins need the full color C gene), so they come in Black Magpie, Blue Magpie, Chocolate Magpie, Lilac Magie, Sable Magpie, etc.

Cream is recessive to harlequin so you are likely to harlequins from a cream x harlequin cross, but less likely to get magpies than japanese. Magpies are just harlequins that have the recessive chinchilla (or sable) gene, so both parents need to carry chinchilla (with some exception; one parent can carry chinchilla and one can carry rew and it will show up as chinchilla, but they both have to have at least some recessive on the chinchilla locus) to get a magpie baby. Your cream would have to carry chinchilla (eg, Frosty, Magpie, Chinchilla, Sable Point) to have a chance at producing magpies when bred to a magpie but even then it would only be a 50% chance per kit at most.

 

[Honeybuns62]

Harlequins are always called by the black-base color, not the orange-base color. So cream harlequin or fawn harlequin isn't a thing. The pheomelanin/orange pigment can range from light cream to red, but they are the same genetically (aside from rufus modifiers) and have the same color name.

The four shades of japanese harlequin are Black Japanese, Blue Japanese, Chocolate Japanese, and Lilac Japanese. (the tricolor versions of them are always Black/Orange Tricolor, Blue/Fawn tricolor, Chocolate/Orange Tricolor, and Lilac/Fawn Tricolor). These can be just shortened to Harlequin. If somebody says Black Harlequin, they mean Black Japanese Harlequin.

Magpies do come in a few more colors than Japanese (as they can have other genes than the chinchilla gene and still get that magpie effect, while Japanese harlequins need the full color C gene), so they come in Black Magpie, Blue Magpie, Chocolate Magpie, Lilac Magie, Sable Magpie, etc.

Cream is recessive to harlequin so you are likely to harlequins from a cream x harlequin cross, but less likely to get magpies than japanese. Magpies are just harlequins that have the recessive chinchilla (or sable) gene, so both parents need to carry chinchilla (with some exception; one parent can carry chinchilla and one can carry rew and it will show up as chinchilla, but they both have to have at least some recessive on the chinchilla locus) to get a magpie baby. Your cream would have to carry chinchilla (eg, Frosty, Magpie, Chinchilla, Sable Point) to have a chance at producing magpies when bred to a magpie but even then it would only be a 50% chance per kit at most.

So much good info! Thank you so very much!

 

[reh]

You can look for images here (search for harlekin)
http://rabbitcolors.info/int/en/colornames/1.html?l=enor here (pick te genes you are interested in out of the bottom list )
http://rabbitcolors.info/int/en/groups/eJ.html

 

[MsTemeraire]

Here's the ARBA colour descriptions for Harlequins -

 

[Jackrabbit]

Thank you! This is helpful. I love the magpie! Would a cream x black (or lilac) magpie make anything close to him you think?

Possibly. By cream do you mean fawn?

 

[Honeybuns62]

Possibly. By cream do you mean fawn?

Yes! His past owner said cream but I always thought he cream/fawn were about the same.