Micrurus fulvius

• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Physical Description

Habitat

Pine and scrub oak forests with sandy soils.

Ecology: Habitats include hardwood forest , pine-oak woodland, pine flatwoods, and xerophytic scrub , often in areas with sandy soils, sometimes marsh edges and residential areas (Mount 1975, Ashton and Ashton 1981, Palmer and Braswell 1995, Tennant 1997, Ernst and Ernst 2003). This secretive snake is often underground, under leaf litter , logs or stumps , or similarly secluded. Eggs probably are laid in loose soil or decaying organic matter (Mount 1975), or underground or under leaf litter or surface objects (Ernst 1992).[1]


List of Habitats:1.4Forest - Temperate 3.4Shrubland - Temperate

Biology

Diet

Small snakes and lizards.

Reproduction

Breeds during June

Taxonomy

Unambiguous Synonyms

1. Coluber fulvius Linnaeus 1766
2. Elaps fulvius — Baird & Girard 1853: 21
3. Elaps fulvius — Boulenger 1896
4. Elaps fulvius — DumÉril & Bibron 1854: 1215
5. Micrurus Fulvius Barbouri
6. Micrurus fulvius fulvius Conant & Collins 1991: 224
7. Micrurus fulvius fulvius — Welch 1994: 83

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: October 21, 1999.

Name Status: Accepted Name. Synonym: Coluber fulvius. Latest taxonomic scrutiny: June 11, 2001.

Other common names : Spanish: Serpiente-coralillo arlequín.

Similar Species

Several non-venomous snakes mimic the Coral Snake. It can be distinguished from these other snakes by the fact that its red band is directly against the yellow stripe. No other snake in North America resembling the Coral Snake has a red band located directly next to a yellow stripe.

Members of the genus Micrurus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 237 species and subspecies in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

M. psyches subsp. circinalis · M. fulvius · M. langsdorffi subsp. langsdorffi · M. affinis · M. affinis aglaeope · M. affinis alienus · M. affinis apiatus · M. affinis hippocrepis · M. affinis stantoni · M. albicinctus · M. alleni (Allen's Coral Snake) · M. alleni alleni · M. alleni richardi · M. alleni yatesi · M. altirostris · M. ancoralis (Regal Coral Snake) · M. ancoralis ancoralis · M. ancoralis jani · M. annellatus (Annellated Coral Snake) · M. annellatus annellatus · M. annellatus balzanii · M. annellatus bolivianus · M. annellatus montanus · M. antioguensis · M. antioquiensis · M. apiatus · M. averyi (Black-Headed Coral Snake) · M. baliocoryphus · M. bernadi · M. bernardi · M. bocourti (Ecuador Coral Snake) · M. bogerti (Bogert's Coral Snake) · M. boucorti · M. brasiliensis · M. browni (Brown's Coral Snake) · M. browni browni (Brown's Coral Snake) · M. browni importunus · M. browni taylori · M. camilae · M. carinicauda · M. carinicaudus · M. carinicaudus transandinus · M. catamayensis (Catamayo Coral Snake) · M. circinalis · M. clarki (Clark's Coral Snake) · M. collaris (Guyana Blackback Coral Snake) · M. collaris breviventris · M. collaris collaris · M. corallinis · M. corallinus (Painted Coral Snake) · M. corallinus corallinus · M. darki · M. decoratus (Brazilian Coral Snake) · M. diana · M. diastema (Variable Coral Snake) · M. diastema affinis · M. diastema aglaeope · M. diastema alienus · M. diastema apiatus · M. diastema diastema (Atlantic Coral Snake) · M. diastema macdougalli · M. diastema proximans · M. diastema sapperi · M. dissolencus · M. dissoleucus (Pigmy Coral Snake) · M. dissoleucus dissoleucus · M. dissoleucus dunni · M. dissoleucus melanogenys · M. dissoleucus meridensis · M. dissoleucus nigrirostris · M. distans (West Mexican Coral Snake) · M. distans distans (West Mexican Coral Snake) · M. distans michoacanensis · M. distans oliveri · M. distans zweifeli · M. distanti · M. dumerili subsp. antioquiensis · M. dumerilii · M. dumerilii antioquiensis · M. dumerilii carinicauda · M. dumerili antioquiensis · M. dumerili carinicaudus · M. dumerili colombianus · M. dumerili transandinus · M. dumerili venezuelensis · M. dunni · M. ecuadorianus · M. ecuadorianus sangilensis · M. elegans (Elegant Coral Snake) · M. elegans elegans (Elegant Coral Snake) · M. elegans verae-pacis · M. elegans veraepacis · M. ephippifer (Oaxacan Coral Snake) · M. ephippifer ephippifer (Oaxacan Coral Snake) · M. ephippifer zapotecus · M. filiformis (Slender Coral Snake) · M. filiformis filiformis · M. filiformis subtilis · M. fitzingeri · M. fitzingeri fitzingeri

More Info

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Further Reading

• A check list of North American amphibians and reptiles / by Leonhard Stejneger and Thomas Barbour. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; [etc., etc.]1923. ENG url p. 120, p. 129.
• A manual of land and fresh water vertebrate animals of the United States (exclusive of birds) by Henry Sherring Pratt Philadelphia, P. Blakiston's Son & Co., inc.[c1935] ENG url p. 220.
• Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, -1965. ENG url p. 110, p. 114, p. 126, p. 486.
• Baird & Girard (1853) Cat. North Am. Rept. Mus. Smiths. Inst. 1. Serpents.
• Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, A. L. Gardner, and W. C. Starnes 2003. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada.
• Banks, R. C., R. W. McDiarmid, and A. L. Gardner 1987. Checklist of Vertebrates of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and Canada. Resource Publication, no. 166. United States Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, D.C., USA. 79.
• Bartlett, R D. and Bartlett, P.P. 1999. A Field Guide to Texas Reptiles and Amphibians. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas. xviii + 331 pp.
• Breviora. Cambridge, Mass., Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. ENG url p. 25, p. 27.
• Brown et al. (1942) Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 55: 63-66
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, ENG url p. 179, p. 220, p. 255.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. ENG url p. 174, p. 198, p. 205, p. 236, p. 286.
• Campbell & Lamar (1989) Venomous Rept. Latin America.
• Campbell, J.A. and Lamar, W.W. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. Comstock, Ithaca, New York and London, UK.
• College zoology [by] Robert W. Hegner [and] Karl A. Stiles. New York, Macmillan[1959] ENG url p. 423.
• Collins, J. T. 1990. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians and Reptiles, Third Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. St. Louis, Missouri, USA. ii-41. ISBN: 0-916984-21-4.
• Collins, J. T. 1997. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians and Reptiles, Fourth Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. St. Louis, Missouri, USA. ii-40. ISBN: 0-916984-44-3.
• Collins, J.T. and Taggart, T.W. 2002. Standard common and current scientific names for North American amphibians, turtles, reptiles and crocodilians. Fifth edition. Publication of The Center for North American Herpetology, Lawrence, Kansas. Iv + 44pp.
• Conant & Collins (1991) Field Guide Rept. Amph. E/C North America, 3rd ed.
• Conant (1978) Houghton Mifflin, Boston
• Conant, R. and Collins, J.T. 1991. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians: Eastern and Central North America. Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts.
• Conant, R. and J. T. Collins 1991. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians, Eastern and Central North America, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, Massachusetts. 450.
• Crother, B.I., Boundy, J., Campbell, J.A., de Queiroz, K., Frost, D.R., Highton, R.H., Iverson, J.B., Meylan, P.A., Reeder, T.W., Seidel, M.E., Sites Jr., J.W., Taggart, T.W., Tilley, S.G. and Wake, D.B. 2000. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Herpetological Circular No. 29. 82 pp.
• Dixon, J.R. 2000. Amphibians and Reptiles of Texas. With Keys, Taxonomic Synopses, Bibliography, and Distribution Maps. Second edition. Texas A & M University Press, College Station, College Station, Texas.
• Duméril & Bibron (1854) Erpétologie générale Vol. 7/2.
• Dundee, H.A. and Rossman, D.A. 1989. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Louisiana. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• Ernst, C.H. 1992. Venomous Reptiles of North America. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
• Ernst, C.H. and Barbour, R.W. 1989. Snakes of Eastern North America. George Mason University Press, Fairfax, Virginia. 282 pp.
• Ernst, C.H. and Ernst, E.M. 2003. Snakes of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C.
• Flores-Villela, Oscar / McCoy, C. J., ed. 1993. Herpetofauna Mexicana: Lista anotada de las especies de anfibios y reptiles de México, cambios taxonómicos recientes, y nuevas especies. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication, no. 17. Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. iv + 73. ISBN: 0-911239-42-1.
• Golay, P., et al. 1993. Endoglyphs and Other Major Venomous Snakes of the World. A Checklist. AZEMIOPS S.A., Herpetological Data Center. Aire-Geneva, Switzerland. v-478. ISBN: 2-940077-00-2.
• Irwin (2004) Arkansas Snake Guide, Little Rock, 50 pp.
• Jackson et al. (1981) Herpetologica 37 (4): 213-228
• Liner (1994) Scient. common names Amph. Rept. Mexico. SSAR, 113 pp.
• Liner et al. (1973) Hiss News-Journal 1 (6): 186
• Link (1951) Natural History Miscellanea (92): 1-5
• Linnaeus (1766) Systema Naturae, 12th ed.
• Meachem et al. (1961) The Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences 24 (1): 56-58
• Miscellaneous publication - University of Kansas, Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, University of Kansas, 1946-1996. ENG url p. 180.
• Mount, R.H. 1975. The Reptiles and Amphibians of Alabama. Auburn University Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn, Alabama. vii + 347 pp.
• Naturalist's guide to the Americas, prepared by the Committee on the Preservation of Natural Conditions of the Ecological Society of America, with assistance from numerous organizations and individuals, assembled and edited by chairman, Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins, 1926. ENG url p. 433.
• Phyletic analysis of fifty characters of advanced snakes [by] Hymen Marx and George B. Rabb. [Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History]1972. ENG url p. 136, p. 138, p. 159, p. 225, p. 294.
• Preliminary account of the coral snakes of Central America and Mexico, by Karl P. Schmidt. ENG url p. 30, p. 40.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. ENG url p. 265.
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] ENG url p. 17, p. 453.
• Roze et al. (1983) Cat. Amer. Amph. Rept. No. 316 1983: 1-4
• Roze, J. A., (1967): A checklist of the New World venomous coral snakes (Elapidae), with descriptions of new forms - Amer. Mus. Novit. 2287, pp. [1-60]
• Slowinski et al. (2001) Herpetologica 57 (2): 233-245
• Smith et al. (1970) Journal of Herpetology 4 (1-2): 80-83
• Smith et al. (1994) Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society 30 (2): 76-77
• Snyder (1945) Copeia 1945 (3): 173-174
• Tennant, A. 1984. The Snakes of Texas. Texas Monthly Press, Austin, Texas. 561 pp.
• Tennant, A. 1997. A Field Guide to Snakes of Florida. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas. xiii + 257 pp.
• Tennant, A. 1998. A Field Guide to Texas Snakes. Second edition. Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas.
• The annellated coral snake, Micrurus annellatus Peters / Karl P. Schmidt. Chicago: Chicago Natural History Museum, 1954. ENG url p. 319.
• The ecological impact of man on the south Florida herpetofauna / by Larry David Wilson and Louis Porras. Lawrence: University of Kansas: 1983. ENG url p. 28.
• The palatal dentition in squamate reptiles: morphology, development, attachment, and replacement / D. Luke Mahler, Maureen Kearney. Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, c2006. ENG url p. 16, p. 33, p. 60.
• The reptiles of Ohio. Notre Dame, Ind., University of Notre Dame Press, c1951. ENG url p. 282.
• Trauth, S.E., Robison, H.W. and Plummer, M.V. 2004. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Arkansas. University of Arkansas Press, Little Rock, Arkansas.
• Tulane studies in zoology. New Orleans, Tulane University. ENG url p. 138, p. 144, p. 199, p. 208.
• University of Kansas publications, Museum of Natural History. Lawrence, University of Kansas. ENG url p. 229, p. 619.
• Werler, J.E. and Dixon, J.R. 2000. Texas Snakes: Identification, Distribution, and Natural History. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas.

Notes

Contributors

• Amphibians and Reptiles of North Carolina
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed October 3, 2006.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed February 27, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 4 providers.
• Hammerson, G.A. 2007. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008.
• Uetz, Peter. The Reptile Database

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 27, 2008:

• California Academy of Sciences: CAS Herpetology Collection Catalog
• Marine Science Institute, UCSB: Paleobiology Database
• Museum of Vertebrate Zoology: Terrestrial vertebrate specimens
• Yale University Peabody Museum: Peabody Herp Collection DiGIR provider Service

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2542505
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-209602 Rep-20954
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 209602
• IUCN ID: 64025
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: ARADC02011 ARADC02010
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 165500

Footnotes

1. Hammerson, G.A. 2007. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008. [back]

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