Micrurus pyrrhocryptus (COPE, 1862)
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Micrurus pyrrhocryptus
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| Higher Taxa | Elapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Argentinian coral snake Portuguese: Cobra-Coral, Coral, Coral-Verdadeira, Cobra-Coral-de-Mato-Grosso-do-Sul |
| Synonym | Elaps pyrrhocryptus COPE 1862: 347 Elaps marcgravii (WIED-NEUWIED) — BOULENGER 1896:428 Elaps simonsii BOULENGER 1902: 338 Elaps frontalis — LÖNNBERG 1902:461 Micrurus lemniscatus SERIÉ 1936 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus SCHMIDT 1936 Micrurus lemniscatus frontalis AMARAL 1944 (part.) Micrurus frontalis pyrrhocryptus SHREVE 1953 Micrurus frontalis pyrrhocryptus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 209 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus — CEI 1993 Micrurus frontalis pyrrhocryptus — WELCH 1994: 83 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus — LEYNAUD & BUCHER 1999: 37 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus — CAMPBELL & LAMAR 2004: 225 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus — SCHMIDT & KUNZ 2005: 43 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 453 Micrurus pyrrhocryptus — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | SW Brazil (SW Mato Grosso), W/SW Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina (Santa Fe, Mendoza, Formosa, Rio Negro) Type locality: “Vermejo River, Argentine Chaco” = Río Bermejo, Argentina. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: ANSP 5395, USNM 5395 (lost) |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: (1) Dorsal pattern of white, red, and black triads; (2) hemipenis and tail relatively short; (3) two supralabials entering orbit; (4) mental usually separated from chinshields by medial contact of first pair of infralabials; (5) anal scale usually divided; (6) first triad complete; (7) 5-12 red vertebrals separating first triad from parietals; (8) all dorsal head scales including parietals black, edged in white; (9) red rings with heavier black apices than white rings; (10) white rings longest dorsally, constricted or broken ventrally by black rings; (11) chin red with no to moderate black mottling and edging of scales; mental mostly or entirely red; (12) 6-14 triads on body, 1-1.67 on tail [HARVEY et al. 2003]. |
| Comment | Synonymy partly following that of CEI 1993 and HARVEY et al. 2003, CAMPBELL & LAMAR 2004, and WALLACH et al. 2014. Subspecies: Micrurus tricolor has been considered as a subspecies or synonym of pyrrhocryptus, but has been elevated to species status by Silva & Sites 1999, although only some authors have followed that decision. Distribution: tricolor is not in Bolivia but pyrrhocryptus from Boliva has been misidentified as tricolor (Harvey et al. 2003). See map in Nogueira et al. 2019. Venomous! Similar species: Mimicked by the nonvenomous species Lystrophis pulcher. |
| Etymology | Named after Greek “pyros”, meaning "fire" and “kryptos”, meaning "hidden", perhaps alluding to the secretive habits of this brightly colored snake. |
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