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Micrurus nattereri SCHMIDT, 1952

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Higher TaxaElapidae, Elapoidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Natterer’s Coral Snake, Venezuelan aquatic coral snake
Portuguese: Cobra-Coral, Coral-Verdadeira 
SynonymMicrurus surinamensis nattereri SCHMIDT 1952
Micrurus surinamensis nattereri — WELCH 1994: 89
Micrurus surinamensis nattereri — KORNACKER 1999: 160
Micrurus nattereri — PASSOS & FERNANDES 2005
Micrurus nattereri — RIVAS et al. 2012
Micrurus nattereri — WALLACH et al. 2014: 450
Micrurus nattereri — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 
DistributionS Venezuela (upper Orinoco, Rio Negro), E Colombia, NW Brazil

Type locality: between Guaramaco and San Fernando de Atabapo in upper Orinoco River, Venezuela.  
Reproductionoviparous. 
TypesHolotype: SMF 20708 (Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, Frankfurt), a female from a locality between Guaramaco and San Fernando de Atabapo in upper Orinoco River, Venezuela, collected by G. Hübner in 1895 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Distinguished from other species of the genus (except from M. surinamensis) by frontal scale narrower than supraoculars; only one supralabial (4th) contacting the eye; head flattened with nostrils and eyes directed upwards; process pseudocoronoid extremely developed; distinguished from M. surinamensis by having 180–195 (instead of 156–174) ventrals in males and 193–215 (instead of 169–187) ventrals in females; supratemporals reaching only the posterior portion of exoccipitals rather than extending well beyond exoccipitals in M.surinamensis; posterior portion of parietal bone blunter than in M. surinamensis which has a conspicuous sharp projection in this region (from PASSOS & FERNANDES 2005).


Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. However, these details, e.g. detailed descriptions (about about .25 pages) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material. 
CommentVenomous!

Max total length: 130 cm. 
EtymologyNamed after Johann Natterer (1787-1843), a German ornithologist and active traveler, who collected zoological specimens in the Rio Negro region in the last century. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Bernal, R. 2025. Serpientes de Colombia-Guía de Campo. Serie de Guías Tropicales de Campo. 19: 396 pp. Conservación Internacional Colombia, Bogotá - get paper here
  • 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
  • HOGE, A. R., AND A. R. LANCINI 1959. Nota sobre Micrurus surinamensis nattereri Schmidt e Micrurus pyrrhocryptus Cope. Memórias do Instituto Butantan 42/43:373-496 - get paper here
  • Kornacker,P.M. 1999. Checklist and key to the snakes of Venezuela. PaKo-Verlag, Rheinbach, Germany, 270 pp.
  • 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
  • PASSOS, P., RODRIGUES, R., PINNA, P. H., WOITOVICZ-CARDOSO, M. A. N. O. E. L. A., FERNANDES, R., & CARAMASCHI, U. 2025. Filling gaps between museum and society: An illustrated catalog of the primary type specimens of Squamata housed in the Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Zootaxa 5698(1): 1-91 - get paper here
  • Passos, P.; Fernandes, D.S. 2005. Variation and taxonomic status of the aquatic coral snake Micrurus surinamensis (Cuvier, 1817) (Serpentes: Elapidae). Zootaxa 953: 1-14 - 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
  • Schmidt, K. P. 1952. The Surinam coral snake, Micrurus surinamensis. Fieldiana: Zoology 34 (4): 25-34 - get paper here
  • Silva, Jr., Nelson Jorge da; Darlan Tavares Feitosa, Matheus Godoy Pires, and Ana Lúcia da Costa Prudente 2021. CHAPTER 5. CORALSNAKE DIVERSITY IN BRAZIL. In: Nelson Jorge da Silva Jr. et al. (eds.) Advances in Coralsnake Biology. Eagle Mountain Publishing, pp. 142-252
  • 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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