Mandarin Leopard Geckos
The Tangerine group contains the established bloodline known as Mandarin. This line was built over generations to produce a sturdier build and a bolder orange. Because a gecko sold under this name owes its look to the breeder's own line, the line matters more than the label.
About the Mandarin gene
The Mandarin is a long-running bloodline within the Tangerine group of leopard geckos. Rather than isolating one new gene, this line was built by combining favoured tangerine lines. Breeders continue to work it for a solid, well-proportioned body and a more even orange that is fuller. This is what a buyer is paying for under this name.
Appearance
Orange pigment covering the head and body before the tail base is the defining feature across the wider Tangerine group. The Mandarin carries the same colouring as one of the named lines in this group. There are dozens of such lines within Tangerine, and each is bred toward its own look. Because there is no fixed standard, the evenness or depth of the orange on a Mandarin-line gecko varies from one breeder's stock to the next.
Genetics
Mandarin is a named bloodline within the Tangerine group. It sits alongside Blood, Atomic, Electric and Tangerine Tornado as a strain rather than a mutation with its own genetics test. Tangerine is polygenic. Breeders built it from 1996 onwards by breeding geckos with less body spotting and more orange pigment. Mandarin is one of the strains built up in this same way. A Pos Mandarin is an animal from Mandarin-line stock that does not show the colour itself. No single named originator or founding year for the Mandarin line specifically is established well enough to state here. No allelic partner or complex partner is documented.