Hypomelanistic refers to a reduction or lack of melanin pigment in an organism, which results in lighter or paler coloration than the typical phenotype. Some common synonyms for hypomelanistic include leucistic, albino, platinum, and anerythristic. Leucistic refers to animals that have reduced pigmentation but still have some color. Albino refers to animals that lack all pigmentation and have pink eyes. Platinum is used to describe a snake that has black markings on a silver/white background. Anerythristic refers to animals that lack red pigmentation. These synonyms are frequently used in the herpetology community to describe various genetic mutations and color variations in snakes and other reptiles.