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]. Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 2011 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| 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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