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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)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Double black coral snake, Oaxacan Coral Snake
E: Tehuantepec coral snake [ephippifer]
E: Zapotec coral snake [zapotecus]
S: Coralillo Doble Negro

E: Sierra Madre coral snake, Brown's Coral Snake [browni]
S: Coralillo de Sierra Madre [browni]

E: Neblina coral snake, Cloud Forest Coral Snake [nebularis]
S: Coralillo de la Neblina [nebularis]

E: Pueblan Coralsnake [pachecogili]
S: Coralillo de Puebla [pachecogili] 
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

Micrurus nigrocinctus browni SCHMIDT & SMITH 1943
Micrurus browni — LAURENT 1949: 18
Micrurus nigrocinctus browni — ALVAREZ DEL TORO & SMITH 1956: 17
Micrurus nigrocinctus browni — ZWEIFEL 1959
Micrurus browni — LINER 1994
Micrurus browni browni — LINER 2007
Micrurus browni — WALLACH et al. 2014: 443
Micrurus browni — REYES-VELASCO et al. 2020

Micrurus nebularis ROZE 1989: 9
Micrurus nebularis — LINER 1994
Micrurus nebularis — LINER 2007
Micrurus nebularis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 450

Micrurus pachecogili CAMPBELL 2000
Micrurus pachecogili — WALLACH et al. 2014: 452
Micrurus pachecogili — MATA-SILVA et al. 2015

Micrurus browni taylori SCHMIDT & SMITH 1943
Micrurus nuchalis taylori — SCHMIDT & SMITH 1943
Micrurus browni taylori — LINER 2007 
Distributionephippifer: Mexico (Pacific drainage of Oaxaca); Type locality: Pacific side of Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico.

browni: Mexico (Jalisco, Nayarit, Chiapas, Oaxaca), W Guatemala, Honduras; Type locality: Mexico, Guerrero, Chilpancingo.

nebularis: Mexico (Oaxaca, Puebla); Type locality: "Vivero Rancho Teja, 3 km east of Ixtlán de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico, 2370 m." [17˚20'N, 96˚29'W].

pachecogili: Mexico (Oaxaca, Puebla); Type locality: 5.6 km SSW Zapotitlán Salinas, elevation 1494 m, Puebla, Mexico.

taylori: Mexico (Guerrero); Type locality: Acapulco, Guerrero.

zapotecus: Mexico (Oaxaca, Sierra de Juarez)  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: USNM 30085 (F. Sumichrast).
Holotype: FMNH 38494 [browni]
Holotype: AMNH 103118, a 557 mm male (B. Hallberg, 13 July 1968) [nebularis]
Holotype: UTA R-12546 [pachecogili]
Holotype: FMNH 100051 [taylori]
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].


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CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: Micrurus ephippifer, browni, nebularis, bogerti, and pachecogili form a clade with difficult to distinguish forms, hence Reyes-Velasco et al. 2020 suggested to synonymize them (although not explicitly; they just say things such as “Micrurus pachecogili seems identical to M. nebularis on the mtDNA phylogeny, and both placed as part of M. browni (Fig. 2); [...] the almost undistinguishable morphology, habits, and close geographic proximity between the two taxa suggests that they belong to the same population of M. browni” -- which they later synonymize with ephippifer. Arghhhh ...

Synonymy: individuals of M. tener reported from Colima and Morelos (Campbell and Lamar, 2004; Reyes-Velasco et al., 2009) actually represent M. browni, fide Reyes-Velasco et al. 2020 -- which the latter authors later in the paper synonymize with ephippifer.

Subspecies: It’s unclear whether Reyes-Velasco et al. 2020 recognize subspecies although they list a lot of subspecies at various points, but they also synonymize them at a later point, hence we do list them in the synonymy but not under subspecies.

Mimicry: Micrurus browni importunus is mimicked by Pliocercus elapoides diastema (see SMITH & CHISZAR 2001).

Distribution: not in Quintana Roo (Mexico), fide Gonzalez-Sanchez et al. 2017.

NCBI taxon ID: 1675716 [browni]
NCBI taxon ID: 2072745 [nebularis] 
EtymologyGreek from ephippi meaning saddle, alluding to the saddlelike black dorsal spots, or ephippifer meaning bearer of saddle.

M. e. zapotecus was named after the Zapotec culture which flourished several hundred years ago.

M. browni was named after W. W. Brown, the collector of the holotype.

M. nebularis was named after Latin nebula, meaning clouds; nebularis means pertaining to clouds.

M. pachecogili was named after the children of E. Pacheco-Gil, who collected the holotype (18°18’ N, 97° 31’ W). 
References
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