Hi all!

I was recently asked to take a peek at inheritance/mutation rates in beetles, so here goes!

"Mutation" in this context would mean the larva born is of a different colour than either parent. The data for these clutches are always from same-colour parent pairings. Frequently this means that beetle pairings often throw other colours of their own rarity or lower.

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Predicted Beetle Colour Inheritance Chances:
Common Colours: 47.25% chance to pass per parent
Uncommon Colours: 46.25% chance to pass per parent
Rare Colours: 42.5% chance to pass per parent

Predicted mutation chances:
Common x Common Pairing: 5% chance of mutation
Uncommon x Uncommon Pairing: 7.5% chance of mutation
Rare x Rare Pairing: 15% chance of mutation

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Cumulative findings so far:
Total common pairings: 63
Larva born: 119 (6 mutations: 5 commons, 3 uncommon)
Average clutch size: 1.888
Mutation%: 5.042% (83.333% common, 16.667% uncommon)

Total uncommon pairings: 57
Larva born: 121 (7 mutations: 7 commons)
Average clutch size: 2.122
Mutation%: 5.785% (100% common)

Total rare pairings: 67
Larva born: 126 (17 mutations: 14 commons, 3 uncommons)
Average clutch size: 1.880
Mutation%: 13.492% (82.352% common, 17.648% uncommon)

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Note on rare colours from mutations:
These are exceptionally rare! I think in the last year of maintaining my beetle colony I have seen maybe 3-4 instances of rare colourations mutating from any pairing. I am maintaining a population of ~3000-3500 beetles that span all variants in the game at the moment, so the chances are truly slim!