Micrurus hemprichii

Micrurus hemprichii
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Elapidae
Genus: Micrurus
Species:
M. hemprichii
Binomial name
Micrurus hemprichii
(Jan, 1858)
Synonyms[2]
  • Elaps hemprichii
    Jan, 1858

Micrurus hemprichii, commonly known as Hemprich's coral snake, the orange-banded coral snake, and the worm-eating coral snake, is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is native to northern South America. There are two recognized subspecies.[1][2]

Local common names

Local common names for Micrurus hemprichii include cobra coral lombrigueira in Brazilian Portuguese and coral lombricera in South American Spanish.[3]

Etymology

The specific name, hemprichii, is in honor of German naturalist Wilhelm Friedrich Hemprich.[4]

Description

As in many species of coral snakes, the color pattern of Micrurus hemprichii includes triads of black rings separated by white rings. However, unlike in other coral snakes, the black rings of the triads are very wide, and the white rings are very narrow. Also, the colored rings between the triads are relatively narrow and orange instead of being wide and red. Unlike in all other species of the genus Micrurus, in M. hemprichii the anal plate is undivided.[3]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of Hemprich's coral snake is forest at elevations below 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), including lower montane wet forest, gallery forest, and primary and secondary rain forest. It is a cryptic species living in leaf litter of the forest floor.[1]

Behavior

Micrurus hemprichii is terrestrial and primarily fossorial.[1]

Diet

Hemprich's coral snake preys predominately upon velvet worms,[5] but also on small snakes and amphisbaenids.[1]

Geographic distribution

Micrurus hemprichii is found in the upper Amazon Basin, Guiana Highlands, and upper Orinoco Basin in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.[1][2]

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized as being valid.[2]

  • Micrurus hemprichii hemprichii (Jan, 1858)
  • Micrurus hemprichii ortoni Schmidt, 1953

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Micrurus.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ines Hladki, A.; Ramírez Pinilla, M.; Renjifo, J.; Urbina, N.; Valencia, J.; Gagliardi, G.; Catenazzi, A.; Nogueira, C.; Schargel, W.; Rivas, G. (2019). "Micrurus hemprichii ". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019 e.T15202882A15202891. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T15202882A15202891.en. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Micrurus hemprichii at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 16 February 2016.
  3. 1 2 Roze, J.A. (1996). Coral Snakes of the Americas: Biology, Identification, and Venoms. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. ISBN 0-89464-847-0. xii + 328 pp., 38 maps, 63 color photographs, 49 color pattern drawings. (Micrurus hemprichii, pp. 180–182 + Map 21 + Color 31–32).
  4. ↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Micrurus hemprichii, pp. 120).
  5. ↑ Monge Nájera J, Barrientos Z, Aguilar F (1993). "Behavior of Epiperipatus biolleyi (Onychophora: Peripatidae) under laboratory conditions". Revista de Biología Tropical. 41 (3): 689–696.

Further reading

  • Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) .... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I–XXV. (Elaps hemprichii, p. 421).
  • Freiberg M (1982). Snakes of South America. Hong Kong: T.F.H. Publications. 189 pp. ISBN 0-87666-912-7. (Micrurus hemprichii, p. 115).
  • Jan [G] (1858). "Plan d'une Iconographie descriptive des Ophidiens et Description sommaire de nouvelles espèces de Serpents ". Revue et Magasin de Zoologie Pure et Appliquée, Paris, 2e Série [Series 2] 10: 438–449, 514–527. (Elaps hemprichii, new species, pp. 523–524). (in French).
  • Schmidt KP (1953). "Hemprich's Coral Snake Micrurus hemprichi [sic]". Fieldiana Zool. 34 (13): 165–170. (Micrurus hemprichi [sic] ortoni, new subspecies, pp. 166–168).
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