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Micrurus dissoleucus COPE, 1860

IUCN Red List - Micrurus dissoleucus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaElapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesMicrurus dissoleucus dissoleucus (COPE 1860)
Micrurus dissoleucus dunni BARBOUR 1923
Micrurus dissoleucus melanogenys (COPE 1860)
Micrurus dissoleucus nigrirostris SCHMIDT 1955 
Common NamesE: Pigmy Coral Snake
E: Venezuelan pygmy coral snake [dissoleucus]
E: Panama pygmy coral snake [dunni]
E: Santa Marta pygmy coral snake [melanogenys]
E: Barranquilla pygmy coral snake [nigrirostris] 
SynonymMicrurus dissoleucus dissoleucus (COPE 1860)
Elaps dissoleucus COPE 1860: 345
Micrurus dissoleucus — AMARAL 1925: 18
Micrurus dissoleucus dissoleucus — SCHMIDT 1936: 202
Micrurus dissoleucus dissoleucus — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 206
Micrurus dissoleucus dissoleucus — WELCH 1994: 81
Micrurus dissoleucus dissoleucus — GORZULA & SEÑARIS 1999
Micrurus dissoleucus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 445

Micrurus dissoleucus dunni BARBOUR 1923
Micrurus dunni BARBOUR 1923: 15
Micrurus dunni — BARBOUR & AMARAL 1924: 132
Micrurus dissoleucus dunni — SCHMIDT 1936: 203
Micrurus dissoleucus dunni — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 206
Micrurus dissoleucus dunni — WELCH 1994: 81

Micrurus dissoleucus melanogenys (COPE 1860)
Elaps melanogenys COPE 1860: 72
Elaps hollandi GRIFFIN 1916: 218
Micrurus dissoleucus melanogenys — SCHMIDT 1936: 203
Micrurus dissoleucus melanogenys — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970
Micrurus dissoleucus melanogenys — WELCH 1994: 81

Micrurus dissoleucus nigrirostris SCHMIDT 1955
Elaps gravenhorsti JAN 1858: 523
Micrurus dissoleucus nigrirostris SCHMIDT 1955: 355
Micrurus dissoleucus nigrirostris — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970: 206
Micrurus dissoleucus nigrirostris — WELCH 1994: 81 
DistributionPanama, Colombia, N Venezuela

dissoleucus: NE Colombia east to the Orinoco delta of E Venzuela

dunni: Canal Zone of Panama east into Colombia; Type locality: Ancon, Canal Zone, Panama.

melanogenys: N Colombia; Type locality: South America. “unknown locality” fide MALNATE 1971: 72

nigrirostris: Colombia (lower Magdalena region); Type locality: from Barranquilla, Colombia.

Type locality: Maracaibo, Estado Zulia, Venezuela.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ANSP 6781;
Holotype: ANSP 6807 [melanogenys]
Holotype: MCZ 16304 [dunni]
Holotype: SMF 20734 [nigrirostris] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis [dissoleucus]: A small species of coral snake in which the nuchal black ring is not part of the first triad on the body; head crossed posteriorly by a broad light band; no light crossband on snout; tail relatively short; caudals 21-23 in females, 24-28 in males; ventrals 201-212 in females, 175-201 in males; and triads of black rings on the body averaging 9 in both sexes [from SCHMIDT 1955].


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CommentVenomous!

Synonymy and subspecies partly after PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970. Micrurus dissoleucus meridensis ROZE 1989 has been elevated to full species.

Etymology: Gravenhorsti was named after J. L. C. Gravenhorst, an active herpetologist at the Breslau Museum in the middle of the last century. 
EtymologyGreek from disso meaning double and leuco meaning white, meaning "double white," which alludes to the double white bands between the black bands of a triad.
dunni: Named after Emmett R. Dunn, one of the great American herpetologists of this century.
melanogenys: Greek from melanos meaning black and genys meaning chin, thus alluding to the black chin of this species.
nigrirostris: Latin from niger trum meaning black and rostrum meaning snout; thus nigrirostris is black-snouted (snake).
Gravenhorsti was named after J. L. C. Gravenhorst, an active herpetologist at the Breslau Museum in the middle of the last century.
(etymologies from Roze 1996: 159-161). 
References
  • Amaral, A. do 1925. South American snakes in the collection of the United States National Museum. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 67 (24): 1-30 - get paper here
  • Arévalo-Páez, Miguel; Andrés Camilo Montes-Correa*, Efraín Rada-Vargas, Liliana Patricia Saboyá-Acosta and Juan Manuel Renjifo 2015. Notes on the diet of the Pigmy Coral Snake Micrurus dissoleucus (Cope, 1860) in northern Colombia (Serpentes: Elapidae). Herpetology Notes 8: 39-41 - get paper here
  • Barbour, Thomas & Amaral,A. 1924. Notes on some Central American snakes. Occasional Papers of the Boston Society of Natural History 5: 129-132 - get paper here
  • Barbour,T. 1923. Notes on reptiles and amphibians from Panamá. Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool., Univ. Michigan (129): 1-16. - get paper here
  • Barrio Amorós, César Luis and Daniel Calcaño 2003. First record of Micrurus lemniscatus (Linnaeus, 1758) from western Venezuela with comments on coral snakes from the eastern Andean piedmont (Squamata: Serpentes: Elapidae). Herpetozoa 16 (1/2):73-78 - 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
  • Blanco-Torres, Argelina; Lina Báez S., Edgar Patiño-Flores, Juan M. Renjifo-R. 2013. Herpetofauna from the middle valley of the Ranchería river, La Guajira, Colombia. Rev. Biodivers. Neotrop. 3 (2): 113-22 - 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
  • Cope, E.D. 1860. Catalogue of the venomous serpents in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with notes on the families, genera and species. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1859: 332-347 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1860. Supplement to "A catalogue of the venomous serpents in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with notes on the families, genera, and species.". Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1860: 72-74 - get paper here
  • Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248 - 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
  • Griffin, L.F. 1916. A catalog of the Ophidia from South America at present (June 1916) contained in the Carnegie Museum with descriptions of some new species. Mem. Carnegie Mus. 7 (3) [1915]: 163-228 - 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
  • Lancini,A.R. & Kornacker,P.M. 1989. Die Schlangen von Venezuela. Armitano Editores C.A., Caracas, 1-381
  • Larreal, J.T.; G.A. Rivas; C. Portillo-Quintero; T.R. Barros 2012. Squamata reptiles of a fragment of tropical dry forest in northwestern Venezuela (Lake Maracaibo region). Check List 8(6):1220-1224 - get paper here
  • Malnate, Edmond V. 1971. A catalogue of primary types in the Herpetological Collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia (ANSP). Proccedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 123 (9): 345-375 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Pérez-Santos,C. & Moreno, A.G. 1988. Ofidios de Colombia. Museo reegionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino, Monographie VI, 517 pp.
  • Ray, Julie M. and Patty Ruback 2015. Updated checklists of snakes for the provinces of Panamá and Panamá Oeste, Republic of Panama. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (2): 168-188 - get paper here
  • RENJIFO, J. M. & M. LUNDBERG 2003. Una especie nuevo de serpiente coral (Elapidae, Micrurus), de la region de Urra, municipio de Tierra Alta, Cordoba, noroccidente de Colombia. Revista de la Academia Colombiana Ciencias Exactas Fisicas y Naturales, 27 (102): 141-144. - 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 1989. New species and subspecies of coral snakes, genus Micrurus (Elapidae), with notes on type specimens of several species. American Museum Novitates (2932) : 1-15 - get paper here
  • Roze, J. A. 1996. Coral Snakes of the Americas. Krieger, Malabar, Florida
  • 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
  • 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. 1955. Coral snakes of the genus Micrurus in Colombia. Fieldiana Zoology 34 (34): 337-359 - get paper here
  • 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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