THE BUTTERFLY GENE
The BRC describes the butterfly in their colour standard as thus;
Overall impression white with a regular coloured pattern. Back: Coloured with white shoulders and sides. Belly: White with a few small coloured spots over the teats. Ears coloured. Legs white. Coloured elbow spots. Head white with coloured spots and eye circles, and a butterfly shape which covers the nose and top lips. Eye colour according to coat colour. Nails white.
Genotype [colour] + Enen
From this you can see that En is dominant over unmarked/solid en. So it only takes one butterfly gene to produce the pattern ( named the broken pattern in UK Mini Rex and the US)
Order of dominance
'EnEn' is Charlie which is mostly white with a mark on the nose, ears and lightly marked on the body (usually 10% or less of colour)
'Enen' is Butterfly or broken
'enen' is Unmarked (non butterfly, non broken, solid, no white areas)
The table below shows what happens when various patterns are bred together.
Overall impression white with a regular coloured pattern. Back: Coloured with white shoulders and sides. Belly: White with a few small coloured spots over the teats. Ears coloured. Legs white. Coloured elbow spots. Head white with coloured spots and eye circles, and a butterfly shape which covers the nose and top lips. Eye colour according to coat colour. Nails white.
Genotype [colour] + Enen
From this you can see that En is dominant over unmarked/solid en. So it only takes one butterfly gene to produce the pattern ( named the broken pattern in UK Mini Rex and the US)
Order of dominance
'EnEn' is Charlie which is mostly white with a mark on the nose, ears and lightly marked on the body (usually 10% or less of colour)
'Enen' is Butterfly or broken
'enen' is Unmarked (non butterfly, non broken, solid, no white areas)
The table below shows what happens when various patterns are bred together.
Parent A |
Parent B |
Offspring |
Unmarked/Solid en en |
Unmarked/Solid en en |
100 % Unmarked en en |
Unmarked/Solid en en |
Butterfly/Broken En en |
50 % Unmarked en en 50 % Butterfly/Broken En en |
Unmarked/Solid en en |
Charlie En En |
100 % Butterfly/Broken En en |
Butterfly/Broken En en |
Butterfly/Broken En en |
25 % Unmarked en en 50 % Butterfly/Broken En en 25 % Charlie En En |
Butterfly/Broken En en |
Charlie En En |
50 % Butterfly/Broken En en 50 % Charlie En En |
Charlie En En |
Charlie En En |
100 % Charlie En En |
Slideshow of various butterfly patterns with descriptions
The butterfly pattern is a hard one to perfect. Various modifiers also play their part.
Modifiers affect pattern symmetry, percentage of white, spotted/blanket pattern and the location of colour.
As seen on our Lionhead page and in the gallery above, you can also produce 'false charlies' from a butterfly x solid breeding. It is still a butterfly/broken pattern (Enen) but just a poorly/under marked butterfly. The under marked butterfly has been used to produce various other patterns in other breeds such as English Spot, Chekered Giant, Papillon and Dwarf variety.
The Dwarf Hotot is combined with the Dutch gene and Tri's using the Butterfly gene combined with the harli gene, see https://www.barrowbunnies.com/harlies-magpies--tris.html
Broken Pattern occurs in "degrees" due to the modifiers, not the broken gene itself. Double Broken's carry two broken genes and thus, are lightly marked (always), but a heterozygous broken can also be very light due to modifiers.
Conversely there are also over marked/mantle butterfly rabbits where most of the rabbit is coloured but will have a few white patches underneath usually a small area on the belly and white paws. Breeds that are accepted with a similar pattern in Europe are the Mecklenburger.
If you find that you are getting the same undesired pattern then introducing new stock may alleviate this.
The BRC breed standard for the Mini Rex Broken Blanket Pattern;
To have both ears completely coloured; white at base is permissible. Colour to head to match the body colour, which can be solid or with eye circles and with evenly balanced nose spots.
The body markings to be blanket pattern with colour starting at the shoulders and continuing over the back, sides and hind quarters. Preference should always be given to an evenly balanced pattern. Colour spots are permissible to the legs, belly and to the genital area. Total colouration should not be more than 60% of the body area, this cannot be less than 40% white.
FAULTS - More than 60% colour and less than 40% white to the body is to be considered a major fault. Not enough colour to cover shoulders, back, side and hind quarters. Pattern on head/muzzle not balanced.
Butterfly genes and health.
An interesting note, that we think is probably an issue mostly in the US and probably more so in certain lines is the association of 'megacolon' in Charlie patterned rabbits. Rabbits with this disorder have trouble extracting essential nutrients, and may not be able to produce cecatrophs, the poop is bigger and/or misshapen, they have trouble gaining weight. Certain breeders have noted giving a good quality feed can help ease the symptoms, however, death has been known to occur as a result of this genetic trait.
Further reading can be found here
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Differential/mega_differential.htm
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0093750&fbclid=IwAR2Fvg5JClpG37Mmlfg30CQBUDszPnLUAiMsS97rF-aG8sFszmkFYM7EEHo
Modifiers affect pattern symmetry, percentage of white, spotted/blanket pattern and the location of colour.
As seen on our Lionhead page and in the gallery above, you can also produce 'false charlies' from a butterfly x solid breeding. It is still a butterfly/broken pattern (Enen) but just a poorly/under marked butterfly. The under marked butterfly has been used to produce various other patterns in other breeds such as English Spot, Chekered Giant, Papillon and Dwarf variety.
The Dwarf Hotot is combined with the Dutch gene and Tri's using the Butterfly gene combined with the harli gene, see https://www.barrowbunnies.com/harlies-magpies--tris.html
Broken Pattern occurs in "degrees" due to the modifiers, not the broken gene itself. Double Broken's carry two broken genes and thus, are lightly marked (always), but a heterozygous broken can also be very light due to modifiers.
Conversely there are also over marked/mantle butterfly rabbits where most of the rabbit is coloured but will have a few white patches underneath usually a small area on the belly and white paws. Breeds that are accepted with a similar pattern in Europe are the Mecklenburger.
If you find that you are getting the same undesired pattern then introducing new stock may alleviate this.
The BRC breed standard for the Mini Rex Broken Blanket Pattern;
To have both ears completely coloured; white at base is permissible. Colour to head to match the body colour, which can be solid or with eye circles and with evenly balanced nose spots.
The body markings to be blanket pattern with colour starting at the shoulders and continuing over the back, sides and hind quarters. Preference should always be given to an evenly balanced pattern. Colour spots are permissible to the legs, belly and to the genital area. Total colouration should not be more than 60% of the body area, this cannot be less than 40% white.
FAULTS - More than 60% colour and less than 40% white to the body is to be considered a major fault. Not enough colour to cover shoulders, back, side and hind quarters. Pattern on head/muzzle not balanced.
Butterfly genes and health.
An interesting note, that we think is probably an issue mostly in the US and probably more so in certain lines is the association of 'megacolon' in Charlie patterned rabbits. Rabbits with this disorder have trouble extracting essential nutrients, and may not be able to produce cecatrophs, the poop is bigger and/or misshapen, they have trouble gaining weight. Certain breeders have noted giving a good quality feed can help ease the symptoms, however, death has been known to occur as a result of this genetic trait.
Further reading can be found here
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Differential/mega_differential.htm
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0093750&fbclid=IwAR2Fvg5JClpG37Mmlfg30CQBUDszPnLUAiMsS97rF-aG8sFszmkFYM7EEHo