You are here » home › advanced search › Micrurus hemprichii

Micrurus hemprichii (JAN, 1858)

iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Micrurus hemprichii?

Add your own observation of
Micrurus hemprichii »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaElapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesMicrurus hemprichii hemprichii (JAN 1858)
Micrurus hemprichii ortoni SCHMIDT 1953 
Common NamesE: Worm-eating coral snake, Hemprich's Coral Snake
E: Eastern worm-eating coral snake [hemprichii]
E: Western worm-eating coral snake [ortoni]
Portuguese: Cobra-Coral, Cobra-Coral-Escura, Coral-Verdadeira 
SynonymElaps hemprichii JAN 1858: 523
Micrurus hemprichii — AMARAL 1929: 230
Micrurus hemprichii — KORNACKER 1999: 153
Micrurus hemprichii — WHITHWORTH & BEIRNE 2011
Micrurus hemprichii — WALLACH et al. 2014: 447

Micrurus hemprichii hemprichii (JAN 1858)
Elaps hemprichii JAN 1858: 523
Micrurus hemprichii hemprichii — SCHMIDT 1953: 166
Micrurus hemprichii hemprichii — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 210
Micrurus hemprichi hemprichi — GASC & RODRIGUES 1980
Micrurus hemprichii hemprichii — GORZULA & SEÑARIS 1999
Micrurus hemprichii — VALENCIA et al. 2016
Micrurus hemprichii — BERNARDE et al. 2018

Micrurus hemprichii ortoni SCHMIDT 1953
Micrurus hemprichii ortoni SCHMIDT 1953: 166
Micrurus hemprichii ortoni — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 210
Micrurus rondonianus ROZE & DA SILVA 1990
Micrurus hemprichi rondonianus — ROZE 1994
Micrurus hemprichii ortoni — FEITOSA et al. 2007
Micrurus hemprichii ortonii — WHITHWORTH & BEIRNE 2011
Micrurus ortonii — VALENCIA et al. 2016
Micrurus hemprichii ortonii — SILVA et al. 2017
Micrurus ortoni — BERNARDE et al. 2018 
DistributionColombia, Venezuela (TF Amazonas), Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil (Para, Rondonia), Bolivia

hemprichii: E Colombia, S Venezuela, the Guianas, NE Brazil; Type locality: Colombia.

ortoni: Upper Amazon of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, W Brazil (Amazonas); Type locality: Pebs (Pebas fide SCHMIDT 1955), Peru.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: MSNM, sex unknown, destroyed in World War II) and an unknown locality (NHMW = NMW, status unknown). Schmidt (1953a) doubts that one of the types could have come from Colombia and proposes "vicinity of Bartica, British Guiana" as the new type locality. However, Roze (1955) argues that the original type locality may have been correct, and he reports a specimen from only a few kilometers of the Colombian border in Venezuela. Boulenger, 1896:421; Boulenger, 1898a: 131 (cited from HARVEY et al. 2003).
Holotype: MCZ 12423, male, "Pebas, Peru" [ortonii]
Holotype: UCG 3299, male, parapes: UCG, MCZ, USNM, IMTM, MPEG [rondonianus]
Holotype: MCZ 12423 [ortoni] 
Diagnosis 
CommentSynonymy mainly after PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970. Micrurus hemprichii rondonianus ROZE & DA SILVA 1990 was synonymized with Micrurus hemprichii ortoni by Silva 1993 and reduced to subspecies by ROZE 1994. M. h. rondonianus appears to be a melanistic form (ROZE 1994). Silva Jr et al. (2016) recognized only two subspecies (M. h. hemprichii and M. h. ortoni), considering M. h. rondonianus a junior synonym of M. h. ortoni.

Venomous!

Distribution: see maps in Bernarde et al. 2018: 256 (Fig. 6), Nogueira et al. 2019, Paine & Farfan 2020. 
EtymologyNamed after Wilhelm Friedrich Hemprich (1796-1825), German naturalist. 
References
  • Amaral,A. do 1930. Estudos sobre ophidios neotropicos XVIII. Lista remissiva dos ophidios da região neotropica. Mem. Inst. Butantan 4: 126-271 [1929] - get paper here
  • Avila-Pires, Teresa C.S.; Kleiton R. Alves-Silva, Laís Barbosa, Fabrício S. Correa, Jorge F. A. Cosenza, Ana Paula V. Costa-Rodrigues, Aurea A. Cronemberger, Marinus S. Hoogmoed, Geraldo R. Lima-Filho, Adriano O. Maciel, Alexandre F. R. Missassi, Lyw 2018. Changes in Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Over Time in Parque Estadual do Utinga, a Protected Area Surrounded by Urbanization. Herpetology Notes 11: 499-512 - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Bernarde, P. S., L. C. B. Turci, A. D. Abegg, F. L. Franco 2018. A remarkable new species of coralsnake of the Micrurus hemprichii species group from the Brazilian Amazon. Salamandra 54 (4): 249-258 - get paper here
  • BERNARDE, P.S., ALBUQUERQUE, S., BARROS, T.O. & TURCI, L.C.B. 2012. Serpentes do Estado de Rondônia, Brasil. Biota Neotropica 12 (3): 1-29 - get paper here
  • BERNARDE, Paulo Sérgio; Jáson de Oliveira GOMES 2012. Serpentes peçonhentas e ofidismo em Cruzeiro do Sul, Alto Juruá, Estado do Acre, Brasil. Acta Amazonica 42 (1): 65 - 72 - get paper here
  • Bernarde, Paulo Sérgio;, Reginaldo Assêncio Machado & Luiz Carlos Batista Turci 2011. Herpetofauna da área do Igarapé Esperança na Reserva Extrativista Riozinho da Liberdade, Acre – Brasil. Biota Neotropica 11 (3): 117-144 - get paper here
  • Burger, W.L. 1955. A new subspecies of the coral snake Micrurus lemniscatus from Vénézuela, British Guiana and Trinidad, and a key for the identification of associated species of coral snakes. Bol. Mus. Cienc. Nat. Caracas 1: 35-40
  • Campbell, J.A. & Lamar, W.W. 1989. The Venomous Reptiles of Latin America. Comstock Publishing/Cornell University Press, Ithaca
  • Claessen, H. 2005. De slangen van de Guyana’s, deel IX. Lacerta 63 (6): 228-241 - get paper here
  • Cole, Charles J.; Carol R. Townsend, Robert P. Reynolds, Ross D. MacCulloch, and Amy Lathrop 2013. Amphibians and reptiles of Guyana, South America: illustrated keys, annotated species accounts, and a biogeographic synopsis. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 125 (4): 317-578; plates: 580-620 - get paper here
  • Feitosa, Darlan T., Paulo P. Passos and Ana Lúcia Prudente. 2007. Taxonomic status and geographic variation of the slender coralsnake Micrurus filiformis (Günther, 1859) (Serpentes, Elapidae). South American J. Herp. 2 (3): 149-156
  • Fraga R de, Stow AJ, Magnusson WE, Lima AP 2014. The Costs of Evaluating Species Densities and Composition of Snakes to Assess Development Impacts in Amazonia. PLoS One 9 (8): e105453. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0105453 - get paper here
  • Fraga, R., Lima, A. P., Prudente, A. L. C., & Magnusson, W. E. 2013. Guia de cobras da região de Manaus – Amazônia Central. Manaus: INPA - get paper here
  • Frota, J.G. da; Pedroso dos Santos-Jr, Alfredo; Menezes-Chalkidis, H. de & Guimarães Guedes, A. 2005. AS SERPENTES DA REGIÃO DO BAIXO RIO AMAZONAS, OESTE DO ESTADO DO PARÁ, BRASIL (SQUAMATA). Biociências 13 (2): 211-220 - get paper here
  • Gasc & Rodrigues 1980. Liste preliminaire des Serpents de la Guyane francaise. Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. Paris 2 (4): 559-598
  • Gonzalez R. C. et al. 2020. Lista dos Nomes Populares dos Répteis no Brasil – Primeira Versão. Herpetologia Brasileira 9 (2): 121 – 214 - get paper here
  • Gonzalez, Rodrigo Castellari; Uécson Suendel Costa de Oliveira 2020. Death-feigning behaviour in Micrurus ortonii (Schmidt, 1953) (Elapidae) in northern Brazil. Herpetology Notes 13: 603-606 - get paper here
  • Gorzula, Stefan & Senaris, J. Celsa 1999. In: Contribution to the herpetofauna of the Venezuelan Guayana. I: a data base. Scientia Guaianae, Caracas, No. 8 [1998], 269+ pp.; ISBN 980-6020-48-0
  • Harvey M. B., J. Aparicio E, and L. Gonzalez A. 2003. Revision of the venomous snakes of Bolivia: Part 1. The coralsnakes (Elapidae: Micrurus). Annals of the Carnegie Museum 72: 1-52 - get paper here
  • Jan, G. 1858. Plan d'une iconographie descriptive des ophidiens et description sommaire de nouvelles espèces des serpents. Rev. Mag. Zool. Paris (2) 10: 438-449, 514-527 - get paper here
  • KOK, P. J. R., ROZE, J. A., LENGLET, G. L., SAMBHU, H. & ARJOON, D. 2003. Micrurus isozonus (Cope, 1860) (Serpentes, Elapidae): an addition to the herpetofauna of Guyana, with comments on other species of coral snakes from Guyana. Bulletin de l’Institut Royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Biologie, 73 : 75-82 - get paper here
  • Kornacker,P.M. 1999. Checklist and key to the snakes of Venezuela. PaKo-Verlag, Rheinbach, Germany, 270 pp.
  • Lancini,A.R. & Kornacker,P.M. 1989. Die Schlangen von Venezuela. Armitano Editores C.A., Caracas, 1-381
  • Lima Moraes, L. J. C. de, do Nascimento Rainha, R., de Pinho Werneck, F., de Souza Oliveira, A. F., Gascon, C., & de Carvalho, V. T. 2022. Amphibians and reptiles from a protected area in western Brazilian Amazonia (Reserva Extrativista do Baixo Juruá). Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, 62, e202262054-e202262054 - get paper here
  • Mendes, Vinícius; Diederik C. Lock, Daniel Loebmann, Omar Machado Entiauspe-Neto 2021. First record of male combat for Micrurus hemprichii (Serpentes: Elapidae). Herpetology Notes 14: 181-183 - get paper here
  • Morato, S.A.A.; Calixto, P.O.; Mendes, L.R.; Gomes, R.; Galatti, U.; Trein, F.L.; Oliveira, F.S.; Ferreira, G.N. 2014. Guia fotográfico de identificação da herpetofauna da Floresta Nacional de Saracá-Taquera, Estado do Pará. Curitiba: STCP Engenharia de Projetos Ltda.; Porto Trombetas: MRN – Mineração Rio do Norte S.A.; 213 p. - get paper here
  • Morato, Sérgio Augusto Abrahão; Guilherme Nunes Ferreira; Michela Rossane Cavilha Scupino (eds.) 2018. Herpetofauna da Amazônia Central: Estudos na FLONA de Saracá-Taquera. Curitiba, Pr: STCP Engenharia de Projetos Ltda.; Porto Trombetas, Pa: MRN – Mineração Rio do Norte S.A., 2018.<br />210p. - get paper here
  • Muñoz-Saba, Yaneth; Nathaly Calvo-Roa, Paul Andrés Gómez-Sandoval, Diego Casallas-Pabón John Douglas Lynch, Lucas S. Barrientos, Diego A. Gómez-Sánchez. 2019. Guía de campo de los mamíferos, anfibios y reptiles de Santa María (Boyacá, Colombia). Serie Guías de Campo del Instituto de Ciencias Naturales. N° 23. Bogotá D.C. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Bogotá. 317 p - get paper here
  • Nascimento F Paiva do; de Avila-Pires T C Sauer; da Cunha O Rodrigues 1987. Os repteis da area de Carajas, Para, Brasil (Squamata). 2. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi NOVA SERIE ZOOLOGIA 3(1) 1987: 33-65
  • Natera-Mumaw, Marco; Luis Felipe Esqueda-González & Manuel Castelaín-Fernández 2015. Atlas Serpientes de Venezuela. Santiago de Chile, Dimacofi Negocios Avanzados S.A., 456 pp. - get paper here
  • Nogueira, Cristiano C.; Antonio J.S. Argôlo, Vanesa Arzamendia, Josué A. Azevedo, Fausto E. Barbo, Renato S. Bérnils, Bruna E. Bolochio, Marcio Borges-Martins, Marcela Brasil-Godinho, Henrique Braz, Marcus A. Buononato, Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia, 2019. Atlas of Brazilian snakes: verified point-locality maps to mitigate the Wallacean shortfall in a megadiverse snake fauna. South American J. Herp. 14 (Special Issue 1):1-274 - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Paine, T. D. and Farfan, R. S. C. 2020. On the distribution of Micrurus hemprichii and the first confirmed records of occurrence in Madre de Dios, Southern Peru. Herpetological Review 51: 30-31. - get paper here
  • Patel, N. G., Boruah, B. and Das, A. 2020. Sibynophis sagittarius (Cantor’s black-headed snake). Albinism. Herpetological Review 51: 156 - get paper here
  • Pérez-Santos,C. & Moreno, A.G. 1988. Ofidios de Colombia. Museo reegionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino, Monographie VI, 517 pp.
  • Rabosky, Daniel L.; Rudolf von May, Michael C. Grundler and Alison R. Davis Rabosky 2019. The Western Amazonian Richness Gradient for Squamate Reptiles: Are There Really Fewer Snakes and Lizards in Southwestern Amazonian Lowlands? Diversity 11: 199; doi:10.3390/d11100199 - get paper here
  • RIVAS, GILSON A.; CÉSAR R. MOLINA, GABRIEL N. UGUETO, TITO R. BARROS, CÉSAR L. BAR- RIO-AMORÓS & PHILIPPE J. R. KOK 2012. Reptiles of Venezuela: an updated and commented checklist. Zootaxa 3211: 1–64 - get paper here
  • Roze J A; da Silva N J 1990. Coral snakes (Serpentes, Elapidae) from hydroelectric power plant of Samuel, Rondonia, Brazil, with description of a new species. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 26 (4): 169-176 - get paper here
  • Roze, J.A. 1994. Notes on the taxonomy of venomous coral snakes (Elapidae) of South America. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 30: 177-185. - get paper here
  • Santos-Costa, Maria Cristina dos; Gleomar Fabiano Maschio, Ana Lúcia da Costa Prudente 2015. Natural history of snakes from Floresta Nacional de Caxiuanã, eastern Amazonia, Brazil. Herpetology Notes 8: 69-98 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, Karl P. 1936. Preliminary account of coral snakes of South America. Zoological Series of Field Museum of Natural History 20 (19): 189-203 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. Hemprich's coral snake, Micrurus hemprichi. Fieldiana Zoology 34 (13): 165-170 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, Karl P. 1955. Coral snakes of the genus Micrurus in Colombia. Fieldiana Zoology 34 (34): 337-359 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, Karl P. & Walker, Warren F. 1943. Peruvian snakes from the University of Arequipa. Zoological Series of Field Museum of Zoology 24 (26): 279-296 - get paper here
  • Silva Jr, Nelson Jorge da; Marcus Augusto Buononato & Darlan Tavares Feitosa 2016. AS COBRAS-CORAIS DO NOVO MUNDO. In: Silva (ed) Cobras corais do Brasil. Goiânia, pp. 41-69
  • Silva, F.M.; A.C. Menks; A.L.C. Prudente; J.C.L. Costa; A.E.M. Travassos; U. Galatti. 2011. Squamate Reptiles from municipality of Barcarena and surroundings, state of Pará, north of Brazil. Check List 7 (3): 220-226 - get paper here
  • Silva, N. Jorge 1993. The snakes from Samuel hydroelectric power plant and vicinity, Rondônia, Brazil. Herpetological Natural History 1 (1): 37-86
  • Starace, Fausto 1998. Guide des Serpents et Amphisbènes de Guyane. IBIS Rouge Editions, Guadeloupe, Guyane, 450 pp.
  • Starace, Fausto 2013. Guide des Serpents et Amphisbènes de Guyane. Ibis Rouge Editions, Matoury, Guyane, ISBN 978-2-84450-407-4 - get paper here
  • Torres-Carvajal O, Pazmiño-Otamendi G, Salazar-Valenzuela D. 2019. Reptiles of Ecuador: a resource-rich portal, with a dynamic checklist and photographic guides. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13 (1): [General Section]: 209–229 (e178) - get paper here
  • Valencia, J. H., K. Garzón-Tello & M. E. Barragán-Paladines 2016. Serpientes venenosas del Ecuador: sistemática, taxonomía, historia natural, conservación, envenenamiento y aspectos antropológicos. Quito, Ecuador, Fundación Herpetológica Gustavo Orcés, Universidad de Texas, Fondo Ambiental Nacional, 652 pp. [review in HR 49 (1): 152, 2018]
  • Vaz-Silva, W.; RM Oliveira, AFN Gonzaga, KC Pinto, FC Poli, TM Bilce, M Penhacek, L Wronski, JX Martins, TG Junqueira, LCC, Cesca VY, Guimarães RD. Pinheiro 2015. Contributions to the knowledge of amphibians and reptiles from Volta Grande do Xingu, northern Brazil Braz. J. Biol., 75 (3) (suppl.): S205-S218 - get paper here
  • Vogt, R.C.; Ferrara, C.R.; Bernhard, R.; Carvalho, V.T.; Balensiefer, D.C.; Bonora, L.; Novelle, S.M.H. 2007. Capítulo 9. Herpetofauna. p. 127-143. In: Rapp Py-Daniel, L.; Deus, C.P.; Henriques, A.L.; Pimpão, D.M.; Ribeiro, O.M. (orgs.). Biodiversidade do Médio Madeira: Bases científicas para propostas de conservação. INPA: Manaus, 244pp.
  • 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.
  • Whithworth, A. & Beirne, C. 2011. Reptiles of the Yachana Reserve. Global Vision International, 130 pp. - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:


Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator