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Micrurus ephippifer (COPE, 1886)

IUCN Red List - Micrurus ephippifer - Vulnerable, VU
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Higher TaxaElapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesMicrurus ephippifer ephippifer (COPE 1886)
Micrurus ephippifer zapotecus ROZE 1989 
Common NamesE: Double black coral snake, Oaxacan Coral Snake
E: Tehuantepec coral snake [ephippifer]
E: Zapotec coral snake [zapotecus]
S: Coralillo Doble Negro 
SynonymElaps ephippifer COPE 1886: 281
Micrurus ephippifer — SCHMIDT 1933: 38
Micrurus ephippifer — LINER 1994
Micrurus ephippifer ephippifer — LINER 2007
Micrurus ephippifer — WALLACH et al. 2014: 446

Micrurus ephippifer zapotecus ROZE 1989: 11
Micrurus ephippifer zapotecus — LINER 2007 
DistributionMexico (Oaxaca)

ephippifer: Mexico (Pacific drainage of Oaxaca); Type locality: Pacific side of Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico.

zapotecus: Mexico (Oaxaca, Sierra de Juarez)  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: USNM 30085 (F. Sumichrast).
Holotype: AMNH 103119 [zapotecus] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A coral snake with alternate red, yellow, and black rings, in which the red rings are so heavily invaded by black pigment dorsally that the dorsal view may give the impression of alternately narrow and wide black rings, separated by narrow yellow ones. No supra-anal keels in males. Ventrals in males about 218, caudals about 50; in females 230 and 40. The black saddles in the red zones give the species its name [from SCHMIDT 1958]. 
CommentVenomous! 
EtymologyGreek from ephippi meaning saddle, alluding to the saddlelike black dorsal spots, or ephippifer meaning bearer of saddle.
The name zapotecus indicates this cora snake dweIls in the area where the Zapotec culture flourished several hundred years ago. 
References
  • Camarillo,R.J.L. 1995. Distribution records for some amphibians and reptiles from Mexico. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 31 (4): 195-197 - get paper here
  • Campbell, J.A. 2000. A new species of venomous coral snake (Serpentes: Elapidae) from high desert in Puebla, Mexico. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 113 (1): 291-297 - get paper here
  • Campbell, J.A. & Lamar, W.W. 1989. The Venomous Reptiles of Latin America. Comstock Publishing/Cornell University Press, Ithaca
  • Casas-Andreu, G., F.R. Méndez-De la Cruz and X. Aguilar-Miguel. 2004. Anfibios y Reptiles; pp. 375–390, in A.J.M. García-Mendoza, J. Ordoñez and M. Briones-Salas (ed.). Biodiversidad de Oaxaca. Instituto de Biología, UNAM-Fondo Oaxaqueño para la Conservación de la Naturaleza-World Wildlife Fund, México, D. F.
  • Cope, E.D. 1886. Thirteenth contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 23: 271-287 [1885] - get paper here
  • García-Padilla, Elí, Emiliano Méndez-Salinas, Elfilia García-Sandoval, Vicente Mata-Silva, Dominic L. DeSantis, and Larry David Wilson. 2016. Micrurus ephippifer (Cope, 1886). Mexico, Oaxaca. Mesoamerican Herpetology 3(4): 1063–1064 - get paper here
  • Goyenechea Mayer-Goyenechea, Irene & Martha Gual-Díaz 2014. Reptilies en el Bosques mesófilos de Montaña de México. in: Gual-Diaz & Rendón-Correa, Bosques mesófilos de Montaña de México, CONABIO, pp. 263-278 - get paper here
  • Gual-Diaz, M. & Rendón-Correa, A. 2014. Bosques mesófilos de Montaña de México. CONABIO (Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad), México. 352 pp. - get paper here
  • Heimes, P. 2016. Snakes of Mexico. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 572 pp
  • Liner, Ernest A. 2007. A CHECKLIST OF THE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF MEXICO. Louisiana State University Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science 80: 1-60 - get paper here
  • Mata-Silva, Vicente, Jerry D. Johnson, Larry David Wilson and Elí García-Padilla. 2015. The herpetofauna of Oaxaca, Mexico: composition, physiographic distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (1): 6–62 - get paper here
  • Peterson, A.T. et al. 2004. A preliminary biological survey of Cerro Piedra Larga, Oaxaca, Mexico: Birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and plants. Anales del Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Serie Zoología 75(2): 439-466
  • Roze J A 1989. New species and subspecies of coral snakes, genus Micrurus (Elapidae), with notes on type specimens of several species. American Museum Novitates (2932) : 1-15 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, K. P. 1933. Preliminary account of the coral snakes of Central America and Mexico. Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Zool. Ser. 20: 29-40. - get paper here
  • Schmidt, Karl P. 1958. Some rare or little-known Mexican coral snakes. Fieldiana: Zoology 39 (19): 201-212 - get paper here
  • Simón-Salvador, Pablo R., Elí García-Padilla and Vicente Mata-Silva. 2016. Distribution Notes. Micrurus ephippifer (Cope, 1886). Mesoamerican Herpetology 3 (1): 202 - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
 
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